Ukraine tech minister appeals to Tim Cook to block App Store access in Russia

On the Day 2 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, requested Apple CEO Tim Cook to stop providing its services and products to Russian Federation, as a response to the invasion.

In an open letter, he has requested Cook “to stop supplying Apple services and products to the Russian Federation, including blocking access to App Store!” In his tweet, Fedorov also added, “We are sure that such actions will motivate youth and active population of Russia to proactively stop the disgraceful military aggression.” He also appeals to the youth and active population of Russia to resist the invasion.

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

David Kaye, UC Irvine Law Professor and former UN Special Rapporteur have also retweeted this tweet, however, he believes that cutting off Russian from accessing the App Store might not stop them from communicating.

i very much sympathize with the instinct but wonder how cutting off russian citizens’ access to the app store would affect their ability to communicate, protest, organize, use VPNs… https://t.co/drhkWvLwOP

— David Kaye (@davidakaye) February 25, 2022

For the unversed, Tim Cook had tweeted about the current situation in Ukraine recently, pledging that Apple will keep “supporting local humanitarian efforts”. However, he has not responded to the Ukrainian technology minister’s appeal.

I am deeply concerned with the situation in Ukraine. We’re doing all we can for our teams there and will be supporting local humanitarian efforts. I am thinking of the people who are right now in harm’s way and joining all those calling for peace.

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) February 25, 2022

Not just Tim Cook, other tech industry leaders including Richard Branson have responded to the Ukraine crisis. As per Virgin Group’s founder Richard Branson’s blog post, “To be perfectly clear, this war is Putin’s war, and his choice alone. It’s a unilateral, unprovoked act of aggression that must not only be condemned in the strongest terms, but met with the strongest of responses. ”

The full range of sanctions must be imposed, and Ukraine deserves the full support of the global community. https://t.co/FVLWEJkr9Z

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) February 24, 2022

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