Tech giant Google has decided to shutter its engineering operations in Russia amid growing restrictions on internet freedom in the country.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google will re-locate engineers out of its Russian offices to other countries in wake of introduction of tightened data storage requirements for Internet firms operating in Russia.
As per the report, only a group of employees will stay back in Russia to focus on sales, business partnerships, user support, marketing, and communications.
“We are deeply committed to our Russian users and customers and we have a dedicated team in Russia working to support them,” a Google Russia spokesperson said. However, he declined to specify how many people will be relocated or talk about the reason that led to the move.
The announcement follows introduction of a new law that requires international technology companies to store data they have on Russian uses exclusively within the country rather than in data centres around the world. The law, as held by critics, has been designed to make it tougher for US internet companies to operate in the country as it would give the government powers to block sites which refused to comply.
The bill on the new regulations was signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin back in July. The same is set to come into effect at the beginning of September, 2015.
Google currently accounts for around one-third of Russia’s search market and about half the share of homegrown search engine Yandex.
