Russian Government Officials Dump iPads Over Spying Fears
REUTERS/Robert Galbraith
Journalists spotted that ministers at a cabinet meeting were no longer using Apple tablets, and minister Nikolai Nikiforov confirmed the changeover "took place not so long ago."
He said the ministers' new Samsungs were "specially protected devices that can be used to work with confidential information."
"Some of the information at government meetings is confidential in nature and these devices fully meet these demands and have gone through the strictest system of certification."
Nikiforov denied that Russia was clamping down on US technology in response to Western sanctions imposed over its takeover of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.
"We are not proposing any sanctions," he said.
But he did mention reading reports that "American special services... will significantly increase the volume of information they intercept (which) of course causes serious concern to many governmental clients."
"This obviously orientates Russian clients, primarily state ones, to be very choosy about their partners in IT," Nikiforov said.
He added that South Korean firms such as Samsung, along with Chinese ones, could be interesting to Russia in this respect.
Russia's then-president and now Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited Silicon Valley in 2010 and received an iPhone as a gift from the late Steve Jobs, using it to send his first tweet.
- Colon cancer rates are rising in young people. If you have two symptoms you should get a colonoscopy, a GI oncologist says.
- I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
- An Ambani disruption in OTT: At just ₹1 per day, you can now enjoy ad-free content on JioCinema
- SC rejects pleas seeking cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with VVPAT
- Ultraviolette F77 Mach 2 electric sports bike launched in India starting at ₹2.99 lakh
- Deloitte projects India's FY25 GDP growth at 6.6%
- Italian PM Meloni invites PM Modi to G7 Summit Outreach Session in June
- Markets rally for 6th day running on firm Asian peers; Tech Mahindra jumps over 12%
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market