Russian authorities on Thursday criticized Apple’s decision to remove some of the country’s most popular apps from its App Store, labelling the move an act of “political censorship” and suggesting the tech giant could not be trusted.

According to a VK statement on Thursday, Apple removed the company's flagship social network VKontakte, often described as Russia's equivalent of Facebook, along with VK Music, VK Messenger, VK Video, Odnoklassniki and Mail.ru services, including its email application.

Apple has not publicly commented on its decision, but told BBC News Russia that it removed the applications to comply with sanctions regulations and that it follows the laws of the jurisdictions in which it operates. The company did not specify which sanctions applied.

VK said Apple removed the apps without prior notice or explanation, making them unavailable for download or updates on Apple devices. The company called the decision "unmotivated and unacceptable," arguing that it had never been placed under sanctions and that it had long provided Apple with legal opinions supporting that position.

VK said the move would prevent users from receiving push notifications for messages and other important events while restricting access to widely-used social media, messaging, email, video and educational services.

Applications already installed on Apple devices would continue to function, the company said, while Android users could still download them through RuStore, Google Play, Huawei AppGallery, Samsung Store, Xiaomi Store and VK's official websites.

The decision prompted an immediate backlash from Russian officials.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov questioned Apple's reliability, saying the move raised doubts about whether the company's services could be trusted. He said Russian authorities would contact Apple before deciding how to respond.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the removal as "an act of political censorship," while Russia's Ministry of Digital Development called it politically motivated and accused Apple of ignoring the socially important functions of VK's services, including emergency alerts.

Andrei Svintsov, deputy chairman of the State Duma's information policy committee, claimed Apple was trying to hinder the expansion of Russian technology companies into markets across the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and Africa.

VK is one of Russia's largest technology companies, operating the country's leading social network alongside email, messaging, video, cloud and enterprise software services. The company rebranded from Mail.ru Group to VK in 2021.

Its chief executive, Vladimir Kiriyenko, is the son of Sergei Kiriyenko, the senior Kremlin official responsible for Russia's domestic political policy. Vladimir Kiriyenko was sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and Britain following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The latest removal follows Apple's decision earlier this month to remove Max, a state-backed messaging application developed by VK that combines messaging with government services, digital identification and payment functions. Apple also said that removal was required to comply with sanctions regulations without specifying which measures applied.

Apple previously removed VK's apps from the App Store in September 2022 after Britain imposed sanctions on senior VK executives, before restoring them less than a month later.

Russian authorities have been pressing Apple to allow third-party app stores, particularly VK-developed RuStore, on devices sold in Russia so users can access applications removed from the App Store. Apple has also removed VPN applications from its Russian App Store following requests from Russia's internet regulator Roskomnadzor, according to Russian media.