Google’s Russian unit has declared bankruptcy after authorities seized the tech giant’s bank account in the country, making it unable to pay staff.
The company said it was unable to meet various financial commitments because authorities had commandeered its Moscow subsidiary’s account.
Google had largely pulled out of Russia after Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine, suspending advertising sales and software updates, and no longer allowing Russians to buy apps in its Play Store or paid-for extras on YouTube.
Services such as its search engine, Google Maps and YouTube remain online in the country, and Russian authorities said earlier this week they were not planning to block Google services.
A Google spokesman said: “We previously announced that we paused the vast majority of our commercial operations in Russia. The Russian authorities’ seizure of Google Russia’s bank account has made it untenable for our Russia office to function, including employing and paying Russia-based employees, paying suppliers and vendors, and meeting other financial obligations.
“Google Russia has published a notice of its intention to file for bankruptcy. People in Russia rely on our services to access quality information and we’ll continue to keep free services such as Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Android and Play available.”
Russia did not say why Google’s bank account in the country had been seized, but the company has been repeatedly fined in the country for suspending YouTube accounts supported by the Kremlin or for failing to remove videos under the country’s disinformation laws.
Russian bailiffs have previously seized funds from Google, including a 1bn rouble (£12.5m) penalty for blocking a Christian Orthodox YouTube channel owned by Konstantin Malofeev, a sanctioned businessman.
Last year, the company was fined 7.2bn roubles by a Moscow court for failing to remove banned material.
YouTube has blocked Kremlin-funded broadcasters RT and Sputnik globally. It had around 244 staff in Moscow before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and has relocated some of them to other countries.
Russia shut off Facebook and Instagram in March after Meta, the services’ owner, changed its rules to allow Ukrainians to make death threats against Russian soldiers.
