Kremlin Allegedly Tells Officials To Throw Away iPhones By End Of Month

  • by:
  • Source: Wayne Dupree
  • 03/20/2023
The Russian business magazine Kommersant was the first to disclose that the Kremlin had advised some Russian officials to give up their Apple iPhones by the end of March due to information-security concerns.

According to the Russian daily, which cited sources present at the conference, the command was given during a seminar in the Moscow region earlier this month.

According to the publication, employees were instructed to switch from their iPhones to smartphones with alternative operating systems, such as Android, its Chinese equivalents, or Aurora, an operating system created by the Russian company Open Mobile Platform.

One seminar attendee is quoted as saying, "It's all over for the iPhone: either chuck it away or give it to the kids.

The officials were apparently instructed to replace their iPhones by April 1 by Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy director of Russia's presidential administration.

The alleged directive is believed to have been sent since campaigning for the impending Russian presidential election in 2024 is now underway. Soon after Russia seized Ukraine last year, Apple already prohibited imports into that nation.

A week after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Apple ceased selling its products there. Yet, rumors emerged a few months later claiming that Russians were still buying the latest iPhone 14 through authorized parallel importation schemes. These importation schemes, which permitted vendors to bring goods into the nation without the consent of the trademark owner, were supposedly made lawful in Russia a few months after the conflict started.

It's not known if all Russian government personnel received the same advice to get rid of their Apple iPhones, even if individuals within the Russian presidential administration purportedly received it.

Before this article was published, a request for comment from the Russian Federation Embassy in the US was not immediately answered. Reuters reported that Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for the Kremlin, advised reporters against using their smartphones for professional purposes.

No matter which operating system a smartphone uses, such as iOS or Android, he claimed that it all had a very visible process. They are naturally not employed for official functions.

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