Lantratova called the removal of VK services from the App Store arbitrary.

The removal of the VKontakte social network and other group services from the App Store is a deliberate act of Apple Corporation. This was announced on June 25 by the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Yana Lantratova.

"The VKontakte group is not under US sanctions, it has never appeared on the sanctions lists. Accordingly, this step is entirely Apple's decision. This is a deliberate outrage by the company," Lantratova said.

The Ombudsman stressed that digital freedom in Russia "cannot be locked up." She recalled that the company had previously tried to restrict access to the domestic messenger and bank applications, but thanks to "Russian ingenuity" these problems were solved.

She noted that by removing domestic services, Apple is trying to impose a narrow corridor of American services. According to her, such actions restrict the rights to freedom of speech and personal property of Russians.

"Now it's not you who have the iPhone, but it has you. If they had tried to restrict people's rights in the States in this way, they would have been ruined by lawsuits. Apple has long been engaged not in business, but in politics," Lantratova said.

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On the same day, the VK press service informed Izvestia that Apple had unilaterally and without warning removed VK apps from the App Store. It is noted that Apple's actions restrict Russian users' access to popular services such as social networks, messengers, video platforms, e—mail and educational products. Users will no longer receive push notifications about messages and important events.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 25 that removing Russian apps from the App Store calls into question Apple's reliability as a commercial service provider. According to him, this is not the first time that the corporation removes applications from domestic developers from the Russian segment of the App Store.