Description
Russia's presidential administration has asked officials to stop using Apple iPhones out of fear the devices would be vulnerable to Western intelligence agencies, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday. At a seminar organized by the Kremlin for officials involved in domestic politics, Sergei Kiriyenko, the first deputy head of the presidential administration, told the officials to change phones before April 1, Kommersant said, citing unnamed sources. "It's over for the iPhone: either they throw it away or they give it to the children," Kommersant was quoted as saying by one of the attendees at the meeting. "Everyone will have to do it in March."
The Kremlin may provide other devices with different operating systems to replace the iPhones, Kommersant said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could not confirm the report, but smartphones could not be used for official purposes anyway.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Vladimir Putin has always said that he does not have a smartphone, although Peskov said that Putin uses the Internet from time to time.
Shortly after Russia sent its troops into Ukraine last year, American and British spies got a scoop by discovering, and making public, intelligence that Putin planned to invade. It is not known how the spies obtained such information.
