Russia closes loophole to fully block payments for Apple services
Russia has closed a loophole that allowed its citizens to pay for Apple digital services. “As of April 1, 2026, payment processing is no longer available for purchases made on the App Store or other Apple media services in Russia,” the company wrote in a support document (via 9to5Mac).
The change affects all Apple services. However, the company claims that iCloud+ subscribers’ data will remain available after their subscription ends, even after losing premium cloud storage. Customers’ previous purchases will still be accessible, as will existing Apple account funds until exhausted.
Why is Russia doing this? Well, Russian media (state-aligned) RBC reported that government officials said this was to prevent users from paying for VPN apps. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that the country had intensified attacks on services as part of its “great crackdown” on online information and speech. As of mid-January, it reportedly blocked 70% more VPN apps than at the end of last year.
As the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its fifth year, Putin’s regime apparently wants to shore up its domestic support the way autocrats do: by limiting access to information. (VPNs allow Russians to bypass the country’s strict online censorship.) The country’s crackdown has also included blocking WhatsApp, slowing down Telegram and repeatedly jamming the mobile Internet in Moscow.
