Russian technology holding VK announced on July 16 that it is selling 100% of its RuStore application store to its CEO Dmitry Pankrushev. The sale comes just days after the European Union imposed sanctions on VK on July 13, citing the company’s role in developing the Kremlin-backed messaging app Max and its extensive surveillance capabilities .
It is likely that VK is trying to keep RuStore on smartphones. This is because manufacturers are required to pre-install RuStore on all smartphones officially sold in Russia starting in September 2025.
The app marketplace, launched in May 2022 as Russia’s domestic Android alternative following Google and Apple restrictions, currently hosts over 110,000 apps.
EU Sanctions: VK and Max Messenger Under Scrutiny
The European Council’s restrictive measures target VK and its subsidiary Communication Platform LLC (now renamed Max LLC) under the EU’s human rights sanctions regime established in March 2024. The sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans for designated individuals .
According to the EU designation statement, VK is “one of the main technological companies in Russia” that “provides email and chat services and runs applications and the social media website VKontakte” . The sanctions were imposed because VK is the parent company of Communication Platform LLC, the developer of the Max App—a mobile application supervised by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
The EU cited the following concerns:
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The Max App must be pre-installed on all mobile phones and tablets sold in Russia
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It is integrated with the Gosuslugi (State Services) portal
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The app includes “extensive surveillance features” that can monitor communications, including VPN usage
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It can gather data on other installed applications, monitor address books, identify user locations, and install autonomous updates
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The app’s promotion has been “accompanied by a crackdown on and blocking of other independent applications, such as WhatsApp and Telegram”
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There has been a campaign to limit VPN usage that allowed users to access content blocked in Russia
The EU noted that “the development of the Max application was supervised by the Federal Security Service (FSB), which established requirements that the developers had to meet”.
RuStore’s Role in Russia’s Digital Sovereignty
RuStore was created by VK together with other major Russian IT companies with the support of the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation . The app store has been central to Russia’s strategy of digital sovereignty, particularly after Western tech companies restricted access for Russian users following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine .
Under Russian law, starting September 1, 2025, RuStore and the Max messenger must be pre-installed on all smartphones officially sold in Russia, including devices running iOS, Android, HarmonyOS, and HyperOS operating systems . The government expanded the pre-installation requirement to ensure Russian applications could compete with foreign alternatives and to guarantee user access to domestic digital services.
