Putin tells Russian officials to stop using Apple iPhones in 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin left listening to Sergei Kiriyenko, the Kremlin's first deputy chief of staff in charge of domestic politics, during a meeting on the development of local self-government in Kirov, Russia on August 5, 2017. Kiriyenko told Russian officials to stop using Apple iPhones at the Kremlin's presidential election in April 2024, citing unidentified sources, during a Kremlin-organized seminar for officials involved in domestic politics. The Kremlin told officials involved in preparations for Russia's presidential election to stop using Apple iPhones because of concerns that the devices are vulnerable to Western intelligence agencies, the Kommersant newspaper reported.

Sergei Kiriyenko, the first deputy head of the presidential administration, told officials to change their phones by April 1, citing unidentified sources, a Kremlin-organized seminar for officials involved in domestic politics.

One of the participants of the meeting said that it's all over for the iPhone: either throw it away or give it to the children. When asked about the issue on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could not confirm the report.

Peskov told reporters that they should not be used for official business. No matter what operating system it has, Android or iOS is a transparent mechanism. They are not used for official purposes. ALSO READ: Deglobalization and decoupling risk causing more global damage

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Kommersant said that the order to stop using iPhones had been directed at those involved in domestic politics for which Kiriyenko is responsible, as the Kremlin may provide other devices with different operating systems to replace the iPhones.

President Vladimir Putin has always said he has no smartphone, but Peskov has said Putin does use the Internet from time to time.

After Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine last year, US and British spies claimed a scoop by uncovering and going public with intelligence that Putin was planning to launch a special military operation. It is not known how the spies obtained intelligence.