A voting app run by supporters of outstanding Putin critic Alexei Navalny is as soon as once more out there for obtain on Apple’s Russian App Store, The Washington Post reports, citing unbiased researchers and Navalny’s chief of stall Leonid Volkov. Both Apple and Google eliminated the app final yr after the Kremlin threatened to criminally prosecute firm workers within the nation.

The “Smart Voting” app incorporates over a thousand endorsements of Russian political candidates, WaPo notes, with the concept being to assist residents consolidate votes towards the ruling United Russia get together, which has Vladimir Putin as its de facto chief. Pressure to take away the app got here forward of Russia’s legislative election in September. WaPo reviews that Google restored the app shortly after the election.

Apple didn’t reply to a request for remark from The Verge, and it’s unclear precisely what prompted it to revive the app. The firm has additionally been criticized for eradicating protest and media apps in China on the authorities’s request.

The resolution to revive the app comes as Apple and different corporations have taken steps away from the Russian market, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Apple stated it was halting all product gross sales in Russia at the beginning of March, whereas chief competitor Samsung has additionally stopped shipments to the nation. But even corporations that need to promote telephones in Russia have struggled. The Financial Times reported final month that Chinese smartphone distributors have slashed their shipments to Russia, because the collapse within the worth of the rouble has made it laborious to promote telephones within the nation with out making a loss.

Activists have argued that it’s essential for western corporations to proceed to permit software program to be distributed in Russia, as a result of it may possibly present the nation’s residents with essential info and methods round authorities censorship. Websites have made comparable makes an attempt to make sure their content material continues to be out there in Russia. In the wake of the invasion, the BBC promoted and Twitter launched variations of their websites designed for the censorship-resistant Tor browser.