Russian applications VK, Max, Odnoklassniki, Mail.ru and Zen have disappeared from Google Play

Applications of the Russian services VKontakte and Max disappeared from the Google Play store on July 16. Later, the Odnoklassniki, Mail.ru and Zen applications also became unavailable for installation. The complete list of deleted applications of the VK holding has not yet been officially published.

VK confirmed the disappearance of the applications.

Google has not yet publicly explained the reasons for the removal. It happened three days after the European Union imposed sanctions against the VK holding and Communication Platform LLC, the developer of the Russian national messenger Max. The restrictions were introduced as part of the EU sanctions regime related to human rights violations in Russia.

In June, Max, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Zen, Mail.ru and other VK applications were removed from the App Store. Apple explained this by the need to comply with sanctions legislation.