Apple brings Putin opposition app back to Russia App Store

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Washington Post reports that a voting app run by Navalny's supporters is now available for download on the Russian App Store. The app was removed by both Apple and Google after the Kremlin threatened to prosecute company employees in the country.

According to the WaPo, the Smart Voting app contains over a thousand endorsements of Russian political candidates, with the idea being to help citizens consolidate votes against the ruling United Russia party, which has Vladimir Putin as its defacto leader. Ahead of Russia's legislative election in September, there was pressure to remove the app. According to WaPo, the app was restored shortly after the election.

It's not clear what prompted Apple to restore the app. The company removed protest and media apps in China at the government's request.

The decision to restore the app comes as Apple and other companies have taken steps away from the Russian market. Apple said it was suspending all product sales in Russia at the beginning of March, as well as its chief competitor. Even companies that want to sell phones in Russia have had difficulty. The collapse in the value of the rouble has made it hard to sell phones in the country without making a loss, as reported by the Financial Times last month.

Activists argue that it's important for western companies to allow software to be distributed in Russia because it can provide the country's citizens with important information and ways around government censorship. Similar attempts have been made to ensure that their content is available in Russia. In the wake of the invasion, the BBC promoted and launched versions of their websites that were designed for the censorship-resistant Tor browser.