Russia\u2019s federal censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, has sent a letter to Apple demanding that the tech giant delete Alexey Navalny\u2019s mobile app, Mediazona reported on Thursday, August 19.<\/p>\n
According to the opposition politician\u2019s website, the letter informs Apple that both the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and \u201cTeam Navalny\u201d are considered \u201cextremist organizations\u201d in Russia, and claims that the app is used \u201cto promote and implement\u201d the activists of these \u201cextremist\u201d groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This request from Roskomnadzor comes on the eve of the anniversary of Alexey Navalny\u2019s near fatal poisoning.<\/p>\n
In July, Roskomnadzor ordered YouTube to block Navalny\u2019s popular channel \u201cNavalny LIVE,\u201d as well as channels belonging to his close associates. The censorship agency also blocked Navalny\u2019s website and more than 40 other sites linked to the FBK, alleging that these websites \u201care used for the promotion and continuation of prohibited extremist activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexey Navalny was on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow when he\u00a0fell violently ill\u00a0on August 20, 2020. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, where he was hospitalized in a coma; two days later he was transferred to Germany for treatment. German officials later\u00a0confirmed\u00a0that Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok-type nerve agent. <\/p>\n
Navalny was\u00a0discharged\u00a0from the hospital on September 23, 2020. Russia denies any involvement in the poisoning, though Navalny says he holds Vladimir Putin directly responsible for the nerve-agent attack.<\/p>\n