According to Russia's Kommersant, Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy director of internal affairs in the Russian President's Office, asked the ministry staff to stop using Apple phones from April 3 to avoid Western intelligence services stealing Russian secrets.
According to reports, Kiriyenko attended a domestic political seminar in Moscow Oblast on the same day, and someone proposed that the staff of the interior department of the Russian President's Office should give up using Apple mobile phones. At first, the participants discussed the need for the measure, but Kiriyenko directly terminated the discussion, and he also set a deadline for employees in the department to replace Apple phones - April 4.
Kiriyenko said, "For the Apple phone, everything is over, either throw it away or give it to the child." ”
According to the report, sources revealed that the request to abandon the use of Apple phones is due to "security considerations", that is, compared with other brands of mobile phones, Apple mobile phones are more vulnerable to Western hackers and used for "espionage".
Russian authorities may provide officials with phones with other operating systems.
According to the newspaper, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian President's Office refers to the departments responsible for internal affairs, social projects, activities of the State Council, and the development of information and communication technologies and communication facilities, of which 3 departments will carry out work related to the 2024 Russian presidential election.
Another source said officials engaged in internal affairs within Russia's local government agencies would also be banned from using Apple devices.
This is not the first time the Russian government has advised officials on the use of communications equipment. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Chernyshenko has previously asked Shadayev, Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of Russia to take measures to make the Russian federal government and local government officials pay attention to the fact that "it is necessary to use only Russian domestic communication tools in work."
At the moment, Apple has not responded to this.
On January 1, Russia's Antimonopoly Service fined Apple 17.12 billion rubles (about 1 million yuan) for using Apple Pay in Russian-developed software.
It is reported that Apple did not agree with the ruling of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Bureau. The Federal Antimonopoly Service said Apple appealed the ruling at various stages, but ultimately complied with the fine.