The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said on Tuesday that
U.S. tech giant Apple's distribution of apps through its iOS operating system
gave its own products a competitive advantage.
Apple said it "respectfully disagreed" with the
FAS ruling and that it would appeal it.
Western tech companies have come under increasing pressure
in Russia in recent months, with social network Twitter punitively slowed down
over a failure to delete content which Moscow says is illegal.
Facebook, TikTok and Alphabet's Google have also come under
fire.
The FAS said in a statement it had imposed a turnover fine
on Apple of 906.3 million roubles ($12.1 million) for the alleged violation of
Russian anti-monopoly legislation.
It determined in August 2020 that Apple had abused its
dominant position and then issued a directive requiring the U.S. company to remove
provisions giving it the right to reject third-party apps from its App Store.
That move followed a complaint from cybersecurity company
Kaspersky Lab, which had said that a new version of its Safe Kids application
had been declined by Apple's operating system.
Apple said it was proud to have helped thousands of
developers in Russia, including Kaspersky.
"We worked with Kaspersky to get their app in
compliance with rules that were put in place to protect children," Apple
said in a statement. "They now have 13 apps on the App Store and we have
processed hundreds of updates for them."
Anton Gorelkin, a member of Russia's State Duma committee on
information and communications, said the fine would not destroy Apple, but
would be noticeable on financial statements.
"Gradually we are approaching the kind of seriousness
in the conversation with Big Tech that has long been on display in the
West," Gorelkin wrote on Telegram.
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