The Kremlin has informed officials engaging in preparations for Russia’s 2024 presidential elections to discard their iPhones. The orders come on the back of Russia’s concerns that “the devices are vulnerable to Western intelligence agencies”, according to a new report by Reuters.
The report, citing the local Kommersant newspaper, explains that the policy was disclosed to officials during a domestic politics seminar held by the Kremlin. Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy head of the presidential administration, informed officials to change their phones by April 1 at the latest. Kommersant added that the “Kremlin may provide other devices with different operating systems to replace the iPhones”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to confirm the new policy when confronted, adds the report. However, Peskov hinted that smartphones altogether may no longer be used by Russian officials:
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Smartphones should not be used for official business. Any smartphone has a fairly transparent mechanism, no matter what operating system it has – Android or iOS. Naturally, they are not used for official purposes.
Apple has ceased its online retail and services presence in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine last year.
