Apple and Google ordered by Russia's media authority to take down the app of Vladimir Putin's biggest opponent

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia, opposition politician LyubovSobol, and other demonstrators marched in Moscow in memory of Boris Nemtsov, a murdered Kremlin critic, on February 29, 2020. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images
Russia's media authority ordered Google and Apple remove Alexei Navalny’s app.

Navalny is President Vladimir Putin’s greatest opponent.

This appears to be the Russian government's latest attempt to silence Navalny.

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According to a report, Russia's media authority Roskomnadzor ordered Alphabet, Google’s parent company to remove the app of President Vladimir Putin's biggest enemy from their platforms.

Roskomnadzor stated that the app for publishing stories about Alexei Navalny must be removed from Google and Apple's App Stores because Russian courts have declared Navalny's anticorruption foundation extremist. Interfax reported Friday.

Saturday's request was not immediately answered by Alphabet or Apple.

This is the latest attempt of the Russian government to silence Navalny. After returning from Germany last August, Navalny was poisoned in the Soviet-era nerve gas Novichok in Serbia. He is currently being held in Russia. Russian authorities claim he is guilty embezzlement.

The treatment of Navalny by Putin and the Russian government continues to be criticized from around the world. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, during a Friday meeting with Putin called the imprisonment of Navalny unacceptable and demanded his release.

Russia has been warned by the US President Joe Biden's team about "consequences" for Navalny's death while being held in American custody.

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