Russian users banned from buying apps on Google Play

“Due to disruptions in the operation of payment systems, we will suspend the Google Play payment system for users in Russia in the coming days”, - Interfax quoted the company as saying.

For the period of freezing payments, users from Russia will not be able to buy applications and games on Google Play. They will not be able to pay for a subscription, as well as making purchases of digital goods through applications using the Google Play service in Russia. Only free apps in the Play Store will remain available for download.

In addition, support will continue for games and applications that were paid for before the locks began. However, as soon as the period of prepaid subscriptions ends. It will no longer be possible to extend them to users from the Russian Federation.

For those developers who cooperate with Google Play and do not want to lose their customers, the company offers to extend the grace period for access to content after the end of their existing subscriptions for up to 30 days in the Play Console.

If app owners want to renew their subscriptions for a longer period, for example, up to a year, then this can be done through the Google Play Developer API.

As an alternative, Google suggests that app developers make their app free or remove a paid subscription while using it.

Earlier it became known that Visa and Mastercard stopped serving Russian cards. Since March 10, cards issued in the Russian Federation cannot be used to pay abroad, and foreign counterparts cannot be used to pay for purchases in the Russian Federation.

Violations in the work of payment systems and Internet services in the Russian Federation were the result of Western sanctions imposed against Russia.

They became the response of Western countries to the military special operation of the Russian Federation launched on February 24 in Ukraine. The Russian authorities explained what was happening with the desire to carry out the “denazification” of Ukraine, but in the EU and the United States this was perceived as an act of armed aggression by the Russian Federation against a neighboring state.

Against this background, several packages of sanctions have already been adopted against the Russian Federation, many Western companies have announced their withdrawal from the Russian market.