- Google has had 110 million euros in French assets frozen by Russian authorities
- The move is in response to a reported illegal dividend payment in 2021
- Russian cracks down on Western tech companies and restricts citizen access
A Russian arbitration court has found Google guilty of an illegal dividend payment, prompting a temporary freeze on around 110 million euros in Alphabet-owned French assets.
Official court orders show that this measure was confirmed by an administrator of Google’s defunct Russian subsidiary, and the action appears to be a rare attempt by Russian authorities to target Western corporate assets through legal channels.
Google was allegedly guilty of an illegal dividend payment worth around 10 billion rubles (110 million euros) in 2021, a Russian court found.
Temporary freezing
The company can challenge this temporary freeze with an enforcement judge in the French courts. Russian authorities are attempting similar actions in Turkey, South Africa and Spain.
TechRadar Pro have contacted Google but have not immediately received a response.
Google no longer operates in Russia after its bank accounts were frozen by Russian authorities back in 2022 amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, making its operations unsustainable.
Currently, Russia is threatening to block all Google services in a “soft squeeze” of American technology, and is considering a complete ban on its services. This is apparently because the company stores user data outside the country, representing a ‘serious threat’ to the country and its economy through the surveillance of Russian companies. This in turn could be used to inform further sanctions against the already heavily sanctioned state.
This is part of a wider pattern of digital isolation, not uncommon for a country at war, especially if it faces significant setbacks from around the globe. Popular apps such as FaceTime, Snapchat and most recently WhatsApp may be banned in the country.
Russian censorship has escalated in recent months, with a crackdown on VPNs making it much more difficult for citizens to access unbiased information or to communicate securely and privately both within Russia and with the outside world.
Via Pakinomist
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