On the evening of 3 June, Russian users noticed that Max, Russia's state messenger, unexpectedly disappeared from Apple's App Store. The Cupertino-based company told the BBC that the move is linked to sanctions compliance.

Национальный российский мессенджер Max был, по-видимому, удален из App Store компании Apple — страницы приложения больше нет в нем.

Moscow has for months been pushing Russians to install Max -- a super-app that lacks encryption and that critics say could be used to track people.