Russia may restrict Google services amid personal data concerns

Russia could impose restrictions on all Google services to “preserve statehood and the economy,” a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Andrey Svintsov, told Gazeta.Ru. The potential move is linked to a law on the storage of personal data, which requires data of Russian citizens to be stored domestically.

Svintsov warned that Google continues to store user data outside Russia, primarily in Europe and the United States, posing a potential threat to the country’s economic security.

“Businesses store almost all data about their financial condition, the products they produce, technologies, equipment, service companies, and financial transactions in these cloud services. And [Google services] are an excellent tool for monitoring the state of the economy in the Russian Federation. Consequently, they can be used to adjust the sanctions packages that are introduced with enviable regularity — we’ve even lost count of the latest package,” he said.

He described the trend as “softly squeezing out all American products” from Russia. Svintsov stressed that Russian IT solutions are fully capable of replacing Western services, adding that many modern domestic alternatives are already competitive and could be refined within months. He suggested that restrictions could be phased in gradually to give citizens and businesses time to transition.

The move comes after the State Duma approved in the first reading a draft amendment to the Personal Data Law, aimed at strengthening protections for Russian citizens’ data transferred abroad. The government has expressed its support for the legislation.

Earlier, the State Duma also proposed the creation of a Russian equivalent to Roblox under government supervision.

By Vugar Khalilov