May 18 (Reuters) – Russia’s subsidiary Google plans to file for bankruptcy after authorities withheld its bank account, making it impossible to pay staff and suppliers, but free services, including search and YouTube, will continue to work, he said. Google spokesman on Wednesday.
Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) has been under pressure in Russia for months for failing to delete content it considers illegal and restricting access to some Russian YouTube media, but the Kremlin has so far blocked access to it. services.
“The withholding of Google’s bank account in Russia by the Russian authorities has made it impossible for our Russian office to function, including hiring and paying Russian-based employees, paying suppliers and suppliers and fulfilling other financial obligations,” a Google spokesman said.
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“Google Russia has published a notice of intent to file for bankruptcy.”
A TV channel owned by a sanctioned Russian businessman reported in April that bailiffs had confiscated 1 billion rubles ($ 15 million) from Google for failing to regain access to its YouTube account, but this is the first time the US tech giant has said that his bank account was generally frozen. Read more
Google did not immediately confirm whether the seizure of these funds led to its intention to file for bankruptcy or other seizures.
The database of the Federal Service for Bailiffs of Russia lists two seizures since mid-March, without specifying the amounts, as well as other fines and enforcement fees.
The agency confirmed that it had seized assets and property of Google.
Google relocated many of its employees from Russia after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24. However, some remained.
Exterior view of the BV100 building during a tour of the new Google Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, USA, May 16, 2022. REUTERS / Peter DaSilva / File Photo
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A note published in the official register of Russia’s Fedresurs on Wednesday said Google’s subsidiary intended to declare bankruptcy and had stipulated as of March 22 “inability to meet its financial obligations”, including compensation, remuneration for current and former staff and timely mandatory payments.
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Google, which has halted advertising sales and most other commercial operations in Russia, said its free services, including Gmail, Maps, Android and Play, would remain available to Russian users.
Russia said Tuesday it has no plans to block Google from YouTube, despite repeated threats and fines, acknowledging that such a move is likely to hurt Russian users and should therefore be avoided. Read more
Rostelecom CEO (RTKM.MM) Mikhail Oseevski said on Wednesday that Google was operating normally in the country, including all its servers, TASS reported.
In December, Russia charged Google a 7.2 billion ruble fee for what Moscow said was repeated non-deletion of content that Russia considers illegal, the first revenue-based sanction in this type of case in Russia.
This fine has increased by 506 million rubles due to enforcement fees, according to bailiffs.
The revenue of the Russian branch of Google for 2021 is 134.3 billion rubles, according to the Spark database of Russian companies of the Interfax agency.
Alphabet reported last month that Russia accounted for 1 percent of its revenue last year, or about $ 2.6 billion.
(1 dollar = 63.9570 rubles)
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Reuters report; Edited by Elaine Hardcastle, Guy Folconbridge, David Clark and Barbara Lewis
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