Apple has paused all sales of its physical products in Russia, the company announced on Tuesday.
According to CNN, the tech giant confirmed the news in a statement on Tuesday.
“We are deeply concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and stand with all of the people who are suffering as a result of the violence,” an Apple spokesperson said. “We are supporting humanitarian efforts, providing aid for the unfolding refugee crisis, and doing all we can to support our teams in the region.”
The company went on to say that, along with stopping all exports into Russia, Apple’s payment service, Apple Pay, is being limited in the country.
“Last week, we stopped all exports into our sales channel in the country,” the company explained. “Apple Pay and other services have been limited. RT News and Sputnik News are no longer available for download from the App Store outside Russia. And we have disabled both traffic and live incidents in Apple Maps in Ukraine as a safety and precautionary measure for Ukrainian citizens.”
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, said on Twitter this afternoon that he had written Apple CEO Tim Cook about barring Russian residents from using the App Store.
I’ve contacted @tim_cook, Apple's CEO, to block the Apple Store for citizens of the Russian Federation, and to support the package of US government sanctions! If you agree to have the president-killer, then you will have to be satisfied with the only available site Russia 24. pic.twitter.com/b5dm78g2vS
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 25, 2022