Russia begins blocking Google Docs in some regions of the country

Some Russian telecom operators began blocking the Google Docs service of the American company Google, according to the GlobalCheck project, which monitored Russian systems for blocking electronic Internet addresses and reported on its Twitter page. According to GlobalCheck, access to the service has been restricted by Russian mobile operators such as MTS, Megafon, and Rostelecom, but not in all regions of Russia.

The report indicated that the blocking is likely related to the publication of lists of so-called smart voting on Google Docs. It is noteworthy that the Roskomnadzor (Russian censorship) had announced earlier that it had blocked the Smart Voting website because it was used by an extremist organization.

A few days later, Roscomnadzor demanded that foreign IT companies, including electronic giants such as Apple and Google, stop providing capabilities to bypass restrictions on access to this site, and warned it that it would consider this if its demand was ignored as election interference.

It is worth noting that the Russian media had reported earlier that the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of the Russian parliament) had invited representatives from Google and Apple to attend a meeting of the Russian Federation Council, to discuss US interference in the Russian elections.