Bailiffs seized 1 billion roubles ($12 million) from Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google over the US tech giant’s inability to restore access to its YouTube account, according to a television programme run by a sanctioned Russian tycoon.
Google did not respond to requests for comments sent by email. The Federal Bailiffs Service of Russia did not respond right away.
Since Russia pushed tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24, the case has developed into a war to control information flows.
Russia has banned access to the major platforms of Twitter (TWTR.N) and Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O), Facebook and Instagram. YouTube, which has been subjected to repeated demands and threats from Roskomnadzor, the Russian state communications regulator, may soon follow suit.
Tsargrad TV, a Christian Orthodox channel controlled by businessman Konstantin Malofeev, announced last month that Google had lost an appeal against a judgement in 2021 ordering the corporation to pay a daily punishment of 100,000 roubles for disabling the channel’s YouTube account.
Last year, the Moscow Arbitration Court announced that if Google did not comply, the daily punishment would double every week. The fee would cease compounding when it reached 1 billion roubles, which it did in mid-March, according to Tsargrad, which bills itself as a patriotic Russian channel. This restriction will be lifted in September.
Malofeev was sanctioned by the United States and the European Union in 2014, allegedly for funding pro-Moscow rebels fighting in Ukraine, which he disputes. Russia considers such Western sanctions to be unlawful.
Tsargrad claimed it had received the 1 billion roubles and threatened to go after Google for money if it continued to break Russian law, a threat it has previously made.
Ukraine’s soldiers have resisted, and the West has slapped Russia with sweeping sanctions in an attempt to convince it to remove its troops.
Konstantin Malofeev owns Tsargrad TV, a Russian television channel. To assist him launch the channel, he hired veteran Fox News producer John “Jack” Hanick. In 2015, the channel began broadcasting. It is noted for being conservative, supporting President Vladimir Putin, and adhering to Russian Orthodox Christianity. [1][2][3] YouTube banned its channel in 2020, citing US sanctions on Malofeev as the reason.
The US Department of Justice indicted Hanick in March 2022 with breaching US sanctions by cooperating with Malofeev.
