Russia's major messaging platform and super app MAX, and a number of apps made by its developer VKontakte (VK), have been removed from the Google Play Store.
the social media company VK asked its users to switch to the new domain ending in ".ru".
"All of VKontakte's features, applications, and design remain the same. However, for technical reasons, vk.ru is always accessible, and loads and runs faster than vk.com," the company said.
In June, several VK apps, including MAX, were also removed from Apple's App Store, drawing strong criticism from the company and Russian authorities.
Google Play has also removed several Russian-owned apps, citing sanctions, including the Kaspersky antivirus app and the official apps of a number of Russian banks.
