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Zoom may be blocked in Russia due to its ban on government agencies to hold conferences


Today, April 7, Alexander Bashkin, a member of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation, officially told the RIA Novosti news outlet that the government does not rule out blocking the Zoom videoconferencing service in Russia. This news is connected with the fact that Russian government agencies have restricted access to Zoom software – representatives of Zoom Video Communications, according to media reports, prohibited distributors from selling access to their service to all government agencies and companies in Russia and the CIS. Based on this, the government is likely to take retaliatory measures against the developer of the video conferencing service.

“Russia is not a supporter of sanctions actions, but if Zoom takes such a decision in relation to government agencies and state-owned companies, then it is possible to block this service on the territory of our country as a reciprocal, symmetrical measure,” said Alexander Bashkin.

On the other hand, Bashkin said he hoped that representatives of the Zoom online service would still change their minds and would not prohibit Russian government agencies from using the full range of their functions. He also added that at the moment the ban does not come from the company’s head office, but from regional distributors – an official message from Zoom has not yet been received. And, of course, according to a government representative, this situation with the video conferencing service is a vivid demonstration of the fact that Russia needs to actively develop its own platforms so that no one can blackmail the country by turning off any product.

In addition, the head of the Ministry of Education officially commented on the situation with the Zoom ban, saying that the restriction would not affect the work of the educational sector in any way.

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