The Russian government has been increasingly restricting access to social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram and instead pushing Russian users to the app Max, the development of which was supervised by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

The European Union on Monday sanctioned Russian tech giant VK over its role in developing the Kremlin-backed messaging app Max, which critics say was created for mass surveillance…

The listings include the company VK, which owns the social media website VKontakte, its daughter company Communication Platform LLC, which developed Max, and the latter's head,…