Apple and Microsoft have been added to a Russian state surveillance registry, requiring them to hand over users' text, video and audio messages without a legal process, and by request.
Multiple firms and apps are already on this same list, including WhatsApp and Telegram, so it's not clear why it has taken until now for Apple to be added. It's a continuation of the country's moves to control users' messages, though, as it follows Russia's blocking of FaceTime in 2025.
According to Bloomberg, Apple and Microsoft were added to this registry of "organizers of information dissemination" on October 2, 2026. The registry is operated by the country's state media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, which previously forced Apple to remove VPN apps from the App Store.
Now that Apple is on this registry, Russian law requires it to store local users' correspondence for up to three years. That data must be stored on servers within Russia, and it must be turned over to the country's security services as required.
Neither Apple nor Microsoft has yet commented publicly on the new requirements. Apple does observe the law in its international markets, but it has also removed features if it disagrees with those laws.
So when the UK ordered unwarranted access to user data in 2025, Apple disabled its Advanced Data Protection feature solely in that country. Plus it continues to not offer many features, and now also the HomeView, in the EU because of disputes over regulatory conditions.
Russia's demands on Apple and others
Back in 2022, Russian authorities fined Apple for not storing iCloud data on local servers. In that same year, Russia also made a legal requirement that major technology companies establish offices in the country.
Consequently, Apple opened an office in Moscow in February 2022.
Apple in Russia
Despite setting up that office, Apple has never had any Apple Stores in Russia. It also stopped online sales in the country in 2022 at the start of the attacks on Ukraine.
But Apple devices have been sold through third-party resellers for decades, and its services remained available to Russian subscribers until early 2026. That was at least in part because services such as the App Store are a grey area legally.
If a Russian iPhone user, for instance, subscribes to a Russian app, that in theory has nothing to do with Apple. But Apple runs the App Store and takes income from it.
So in March 2026, Apple reported itself to regulators. Since all non-US Apple sales are the responsibility of Apple Ireland, it was that division that reported the issue, and did so to UK regulators.
The UK ruled that Apple had breached sanctions against Russia "on the balance of probabilities." It fined Apple, and Apple ceased allowing such subscriptions to continue.