Google's Russian branch filed for bankruptcy in a Russian court after it failed to pay the salaries of its employees in the country.
This plan for filing for bankruptcy has been announced by Google since May 2022, after Russian authorities confiscated Google's bank accounts which made them unable to pay salaries and bills to their partners in Russia.
"Russian authorities confiscated Google bank accounts in Russia and made our offices in Russia inoperable. That's why Google Russia filed for bankruptcy," said a Google spokesperson.
"Residents in Russia depend on our services...and we continue to provide free services such as Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Android and Play," he added.
So far, Google's services haven't been blocked in Russia, nor has YouTube. But indeed since Russia invaded Ukraine, the two Alphabet services - Google's parent - have been under great pressure.
However, they have just been fined USD 260 thousand because they do not want to follow Russian rules that require companies to localize user data in Russian data centers.
Apart from Google, the Russian government has also fined many foreign companies over the past few years for various violations. The Russian government has also been criticized for imposing too strict internet rules.
Meanwhile, services such as Twitter and also services belonging to Meta such as Facebook and Instagram have been blocked by the Russian government.