Russia's invasion of Ukraine made many technology companies decide to block their services in Russia.
Not only that, the impact of the second war, the value of the Russian currency, the ruble, continues to decline this is due to the many sanctions imposed on Russia and also more and more companies are withdrawing from Russia.
Launching from Gizmochina, Monday (14/3/2022) this is not only because many countries do not support Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but also because Russia must comply with local and international sanctions. A heavy devaluation was also experienced by the Russian Ruble which led to lower profits for multinational companies.
In late February, Google announced that it would reduce the amount of advertising and media from the Russian Federation in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Now the latest Google is taking further action where they are discontinuing the Google Play Store billing system for Android users in Russia.
In its official statement Google said that due to the disruption of the payment system, Google Play has temporarily suspended the billing system for users in Russia as of March 10, 2022.
Google clarified that this means users cannot purchase apps and games, make subscription payments, or make purchases of any digital in-app goods through the Google Play Store in Russia.
However, the free application will still be available on the Play Store which can be downloaded and installed.
As for the user's subscription features in the Google Play Store, where Google informs that subscriptions for previous subscription features cannot be renewed and will be automatically cancelled.
However, existing subscriptions i.e. 1 month or 1 year subscriptions that have been purchased by Russian Android users prior to this announcement will continue until the end of the then current billing period.
Gogole also explained that they will continue to honor the existing developer subscription billing grace period and any free trials will continue to work until payment is made.
On a closing note, Google also stated that the situation is evolving rapidly and that the company is encouraging users to follow Google for Google's latest updates on the matter if action changes.