Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service has opened a formal antitrust case against Apple after the company failed to preinstall the state-backed MAX messenger and RuStore app marketplace on new devices sold in the country, despite a July 15 deadline to comply, as per a report by Reuters.
The case is the latest escalation in a dispute that has been building since at least 2019, when Russia passed a law requiring device makers to offer domestic apps on products sold in the country. When that law took effect in 2021, Apple negotiated a compromise where users setting up a new iPhone in Russia would be shown a list of recommended Russian-developed apps during setup rather than having them installed automatically. That arrangement held until Russia began raising the stakes.
In August 2025, Russia extended its preinstallation requirement to cover MAX, a state-backed messenger, and formally extended the mandatory RuStore app marketplace requirement to Apple devices. Apple did not comply with either. Then in June 2026, Apple removed MAX from the Russian App Store and subsequently pulled several other apps developed by Russian technology company VK, stating the removals were required to comply with sanctions. That triggered a formal warning from the FAS ordering Apple to address what Russian authorities characterized as discriminatory treatment of domestic software.
Apple reportedly made a partial concession by allowing a Russian search engine to be preinstalled in iOS 26.6, but did not implement the requirements related to MAX or RuStore. The FAS had threatened a fine of 4 billion roubles ($51.6 million) if Apple did not remedy the violations by July 15. Apple missed that deadline, and the formal case followed. It is not clear yet what penalties Apple could face if the FAS ultimately finds the company violated Russian competition law.
The regulatory pressure is complicated by the fact that Apple halted official hardware sales and product exports to Russia following the country’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. As of April 1, 2026, payment processing is also no longer available for App Store purchases or Apple Media Services subscriptions in Russia, effectively cutting off the last significant commercial thread. Apple’s operational footprint in the country is now minimal.
That has not insulated the company from enforcement actions. In January 2024, Apple paid a 1.2 billion rouble fine ($13.4 million at the time) after the FAS ruled it had violated antitrust legislation through App Store practices. The current case involves a much larger potential fine and a more politically charged dispute, given that the apps in question are state-backed and that Apple’s refusal to preinstall them is intertwined with sanctions compliance obligations that exist entirely outside Russia’s jurisdiction.
