Yeah, I think this unfortunately heralds the end for the international internet. If you're not a core US ally, being heavily dependent on US services is now a risk, so I imagine we'll see a wave of states moving to develop their own like China did.

My impression is that both services are widely used in "Slavic" countries, not just Russia. In particular, my relatives in Ukraine use both mail.ru and VK. I wonder if this will trigger a move to equivalent American services, like Facebook or Gmail, for some.

> Great for waking people up to a centralized authority that acts without warning.

Genuinely uncertain if this refers to Apple or the kremlin.

> waking people up to a centralized authority

i think people are asking for it

Gotta love how my accurate characterization of causes of current dived comment was flagged. Russia is divided away from rest, because of Genocide and nuclear threats. Russia acts that way because of their own ideologies, history and feeling of entitlement.

The app store apps removal is very minor and does very little to further already existing divide.