20.07.2026, Moscow.
The removal of applications from the Russian IT company VK, including the messenger Max, from the Google Play app store is a calculated blow not only against VK but also against the stability of the Russian political system, Rossa Primavera News Agency‘s IT Desk notes on July 16.
On July 13, the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions against VK and its subsidiary Communication Platform LLC, which develops Max. On July 16, the Max application, as well as other VK products, disappeared from Google Play. In June, the American IT company Apple imposed restrictions on the distribution of VK applications through the App Store.
In March 2025, VK launched the messenger Max, positioning it as a national messenger. On June 4, at a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and government members, Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Maksut Shadayev presented Max to the president. The Russian leader stated the need to support Max and transfer state services to its platform.
It is obvious that with such support, Max can logically be considered a state messenger, despite being developed by a commercial company. And the Western countries waging a hybrid war against Russia perceive it exactly that way.
If the sanctions attack against Communication Platform and Max had been carried out immediately and access to the App Store and Google Play had been restricted in the early stages of development, when the messenger’s audience was minimal, the costs of such a blockade would have been minimal. But the strike was delayed until a more convenient moment.
In March, the VK press service reported that “more than 107 million people” had registered in the messenger, and that its daily audience “exceeded 77 million people.” Achieving this impressive result came at a high cost, both for VK’s reputation and for the state’s reputation. Unfortunately, officials, major media figures, and public figures, while promoting the messenger among the Russian population, to some extent repeated the negative experience with the “national vaccine” against COVID-19.
Let us note right away that, unlike the “vaccine,” about whose effectiveness in the medical and scientific community there were differing opinions, a national messenger for Russia is necessary, and no logical grounds for the objections can be seen.
Promoted in an accelerated “voluntary-compulsory” manner as an “effective” and “safe” replacement for foreign messengers, Max in practice faced a number of incidents related to a lack of the functionality required by users, fraudulent activity, and user data leaks. These negative incidents primarily hit the trust of Russian citizens in the state, whose representatives promoted the national messenger in advance, ahead of its development.
Despite the difficulties and costs, Max’s audience grew, including among broader and less affluent segments of the population, who are more likely to use cheaper gadgets with the Android operating system and the Google Play app store, rather than expensive Apple products with the App Store. Also, among the users of Max were primarily people with less technical training, for whom using sophisticated software tools to access alternative messengers is difficult.
The removal of Max and other VK applications from Google Play occurred at a time when tens of millions of Russian residents had switched to Max and other VK applications as the only alternative for receiving digital services from the state, for business, leisure, and communication with each other. Of course, these applications can be installed in other ways, from other app stores, but in any case, millions will face difficulties.
The difficulties are provoked by the actions of US companies hostile to Russia. However, let’s look at it from the position of a person who began to use Max in a “voluntary-compulsory” manner or encountered some incident with the application and has already gained a negative experience not related to the hostile actions of the West. It is quite likely to suggest that he will emotionally evaluate the new difficulties and will unfairly direct a share of the negativity not at the Western IT companies and the US or the EU, but at VK and the Russian leadership.
It is also quite likely that there are already millions, if not tens of millions, of such people. Then the total negativity is quite significant, and the delayed strike against the Max messenger is a calculated move in the hybrid war of Western countries against Russia.
The West is consistently advancing on Russia’s interests in all spheres and has no intention of peaceful coexistence; in this confrontation, Russia can only rely on itself. The factor of people’s trust in the state system is especially valuable under these conditions, and risking it, even for solving important tasks, is dangerous.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
