MOSCOW, Sep 13 (Reuters) – Some mobile phone users in Russia were unable to download updates from the AppStore on Monday and Apple reported a drop in its service as authorities seek to block a banned tactical voting app ahead of 10 hours. parliamentary elections this week.
The Kremlin is cracking down on online resources related to jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the technology used to circumvent bans on online content, which has caused large drops in Internet service ahead of the 17-year elections. September 19th.
Roskomnadzor, the state communications regulator, has told several US companies, including Apple, to stop providing the Navalny team with the means to bypass its blockades. The app is banned because Navalny’s movement was outlawed during the summer for being considered extremist.
Navalny’s team said Monday that many people reported problems downloading their app, which they want to use to organize a tactical voting campaign to strike a blow at the ruling United Russia party, without the help of a virtual private network.
“Roskomnadzor has discontinued the installation of app updates from the AppStore in Russia,” Leonid Volkov, a Navalny ally, wrote on Telegram.
Roskomnadzor did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation that its locks were causing the problems.
Apple support in Russia showed that there had been an AppStore outage between 11 a.m. and 5:10 p.m. local time (0800-1410 GMT), a period in which users may have had problems with the service. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
(Reporting by Anton Zverev and Alexander Marrow; Edited in Spanish by Ricardo Figueroa)