The State Duma ruled out a ban on selling iPhones in Russia

“Those who spread such statements try to manipulate public opinion. Our bill does not contain any restrictions that could lead to this,” Gorelkin wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to him, the main goal of the bill is to create conditions under which Apple itself will allow Russian users to install applications from an alternative store. “In essence, this is the same mechanism that already works in the EU,” stressed the first deputy chairman of the Information Policy Committee of the State Duma.

Gorelkin said the bill was discussed by representatives of ministries, departments and industry participants in the commission of the Regional Public Center for Internet Technologies (ROCIT). “All industry proposals presented during the discussion will be submitted to the corresponding committee of the State Duma for consideration in the work on amendments to the second reading,” the parliamentarian assured.

The bill that will force equipment manufacturers to install RuStore on it was approved by the State Duma in the first reading on November 13. MPs must present amendments to the second reading by December 12.

Previously, Gorelkin stated that Russian authorities are negotiating with Apple to pre-install a national app store on the iPhone. “Since April of this year, an alternative application store has already started operating in the EU and Apple has allowed it. That is why I am sure that everything will go well for us, because today negotiations are being carried out with the company,” said the deputy.

RuStore is an application store for Android, Harmony OS and Aurora OS, developed by VK. The store also contains applications from Russian banks, which were removed from the AppStore and Google Play after the credit institutions came under Western sanctions.