MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court on Tuesday fined Google for failing to store personal data on its Russian users, the latest in a series of fines on the U.S. tech giant amid tensions between the Kremlin and the West over the fighting in Ukraine.
A magistrate at Moscow's Tagansky district court fined Google 15 million rubles (about $164,200) after the company repeatedly refused to store personal data on Russian citizens in the country.
Google was previously fined over the same charges in August 2021 and June 2022 under a Russian law that obliges foreign entities to localize the personal data of their Russian users.
Russia can do little to collect the fine, however, as Google's Russia business was effectively shut down last year after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.
Since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russian authorities have taken measures to stifle any criticism of the military campaign.
Persons:
Vladimir Kara, Murza, Sasha Skochilenko
Organizations:
MOSCOW, —, Kremlin, Google, Apple, Wikimedia Foundation, Prosecutors
Locations:
Moscow, Ukraine, Moscow's Tagansky, Russia, St . Petersburg