Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will have discussions with Apple on its reported removal of apps linked to Russian opposition supporters from its Russian app store.

The UK Government condemns the Russian authorities' use of censorship to punish political opposition, repress anti-war sentiment and clamp down on freedom of expression online. The UK has raised Russia's use of repressive legislation to maintain a climate of fear in multilateral fora, most recently at the UN on 29 October. The UK Government stands in solidarity with Russian independent journalists, human rights defenders and civil society activists who continue their work, including online, at great personal risk. The UK Government has regular engagement with Apple on a variety of matters.