If the App Store and Google Play reacted quickly enough to the inclusion of VTB and Promsvyazbank (PSB) in the sanctions lists by removing their mobile applications, then Samsung and Xiaomi are in no hurry to clean up their proprietary software catalogs. They feature not only VTB and Promsvyazbank applications, but also Sberbank ecosystem applications, also removed from Google Play and the App Store.
As Kommersant writes, applications of VTB and PSB banks, as well as part of non-banking applications of the Sberbank ecosystem – SberMegaMarket and the Salyut voice assistant were found in the Samsung Galaxy Apps catalog. The Xiaomi GetApps catalog also has the SberMegaMarket application, but under the old name Goods.ru.
Samsung and Xiaomi did not comment on the presence of applications of sub-sanctioned Russian structures in their catalogs, but, by and large, they are not obliged to delete anything. Vitaly Slepak, a lawyer for KA Pen & Paper, said that Samsung and Xiaomi are not subject to US sanctions, and the companies have a lower degree of responsibility for their failure to comply. “But US law provides for secondary sanctions for interacting with those subject to US restrictions.”, — continued Vitaly Slepak. Secondary sanctions against Samsung and Xiaomi require US authorities to recognize the companies’ actions as facilitating “large financial transactions.”
So in the future, applications of sanctioned Russian banks and companies may disappear from Samsung and Xiaomi branded software catalogs, but for now this opportunity can be used.
Source: ixbt
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