Putin banned officials from using iPhones. The Kremlin is afraid of Western spies

Apple smartphones are widely regarded as devices well protected against hacking attacks. Not in Russia though. According to “Kommersant” (Russia’s largest independent daily), employees of Vladimir Putin’s administration are to get rid of their iPhones as soon as possible.

Putin ordered his officials to get rid of iPhones

According to reports, the authorities in the Kremlin organized a meeting for officials involved in the preparations for the presidential election to be held in Russia in 2024. There, the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, announced the decision to ban the use of Apple phones.

The ban will apply not only to those working to prepare the elections, but also to all officials involved in domestic politics. Each of them is to get rid of their devices by the end of March. – This is the end of the iPhone. Throw it away or give it to the children – the participants of the meeting were to hear.

The Russians fear that Apple devices may be vulnerable to hacking attacks by Western intelligence services, and consequently to spying activities of other countries. In return, the Kremlin is to provide employees with smartphones with a different operating system (probably Android), and – as you might suspect – these will not be American or Korean devices, but most likely Chinese.

As , Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could not confirm these reports. At the same time, he said that both iOS and Android devices are vulnerable, so they cannot be used for business purposes.

The agency reminds that the Russians have already compromised themselves once by carelessness when the Americans and the British acquired and disclosed a huge amount of intelligence data regarding the upcoming invasion of Putin’s troops into Ukraine.