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Apple Left Russia in 2022, but Moscow Still Demands Support for State-Backed Apps
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Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has opened a case against Apple over the company’s failure to enable the preinstallation of two Russian applications—the Max messenger and the RuStore app marketplace —on iPhones and iPads.
The regulator announced the proceedings on its official website on August 3, a development also reported by The Moscow Times that same day.
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The FAS said it had previously ordered Apple to remove what it described as discriminatory conditions affecting Russian search engines and comply with requirements concerning the preinstallation of domestic software on iOS devices.
According to the regulator, Apple complied only in part.
Apple informed the agency that a software update released on July 27 allowed users to select a Russian search engine during device setup. The FAS said this satisfied the search requirement, but that Apple had not complied with the separate order concerning Max and RuStore.
The agency had given Apple until July 15 to implement the changes, The Moscow Times reported. The Russian search engine option appeared in the iOS 26.6 update.
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Russian law requires certain electronic devices sold in the country to offer designated domestic software and a Russian search option. Apple had previously addressed parts of the law by showing users a list of recommended Russian applications during device setup rather than installing them automatically.
The FAS emphasized that it had opened proceedings and had not yet imposed a penalty. A fine would follow only if the agency determines that Apple violated Russian competition law.
A finding against Apple could result in a fine of up to approximately $52 million, according to the independent Russian outlet Meduza.
Apple suspended official product sales in Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its devices nevertheless remain available in the country through parallel imports.
Despite the withdrawal, iOS remains widely used in Russia. It accounted for approximately 41% of the country’s mobile operating-system web traffic in May 2026, according to Statcounter .
The case is the latest turn in a months-long standoff between Moscow and Apple. In early June, Apple removed the state-backed Max messenger from its App Store, cutting off new downloads of an application that has been preinstalled on every new Russian smartphone since September 2025.
Weeks later, on June 25, it pulled a wider set of VK Holding apps, including VKontakte and Odnoklassniki , prompting the Kremlin to urge users to abandon iOS devices.
By mid-July, access to the App Store and Apple's website had sharply degraded across Russia, with abnormal or failed connections to the store reaching 37.7 percent on July 18.
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