Enlarge image
Google headquarters in California
Photo: JOHN G. MABANGLO/EPA
After Russian authorities confiscated the company's accounts, Google's Russian subsidiary plans to file for bankruptcy.
This was announced by a Google spokesman.
It has become impossible to pay employees.
Free services such as YouTube and Google search should remain available in Russia.
Google and its parent company Alphabet have been under pressure in Russia for months: the company refused to remove content that the Russian government classifies as illegal.
YouTube had also restricted access to several Russian state media following the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
The Russia Today and Sputnik channels have been unavailable worldwide since mid-March.
State-affiliated media described Alphabet's moves as an "attack on press freedom."
The Kremlin confiscates revenue
However, Google's services remained available in Russia.
Blocking the services would do too much harm to Russian users, the Kremlin said.
According to a report by a TV channel owned by sanctioned Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeev, bailiffs in Russia had instead seized about a billion rubles - the equivalent of about 15 million euros.
According to the Google spokesman, the entire business account has now been frozen.
In the months since the start of the Russian war of aggression, the US company had brought many employees out of the country.
Other employees stayed.
But now, according to the Google spokesman, it has become impossible to keep paying employees in Russia.
The free services such as Google's mail program Gmail, the navigation program Maps or the smartphone operating system Android and Google's App Store are to be retained.
Overall, according to Alphabet, business in Russia accounts for around one percent of global sales.
jlk/Reuters