Russian MPs demand punishing US companies “for Crimea”

A group of members of Russia’s State Duma has asked Prosecutor General Yury Chaika and Head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina to take measures against Paypal, Google, Apple, Visa, MasterCard and other companies that have stopped their activities in the territory of Crimea.

Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia Valery Rashkin and Secretary of the Central Committee of the party Sergey Obukhov urged the Prosecutor General’s Office to cancel PayPal RU’s license because of its decision to stop providing services to customers from Crimea.

The MPs believe that US President Barack Obama’s decision to ban transactions related to Crimea is contrary to some of Russia’s laws.

The Russian Communists are indignant to see that some foreign companies have joined the anti-Russian sanctions. More specifically, Google has denied access from Crimea to GooglePlay and is canceling its contracts with Google Android application designers from Crimea. In January 2015, Apple decided to sever contacts with software designers from Crimea. Among the other companies that have halted their work in that region are Visa, MasterCard, Scrill, oDesk/Elance and Steam.

According to Rashkin, despite the State Duma’s demands, PayPal has closed its existing accounts and has refused to open new ones in the Republic of Crimea.