Apple Blacklists Crimea: New anti-Russia sanctions ban US citizens from trading with Crimeans

Tech giant Apple is terminating accounts with developers in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied region of Crimea. Under the new rules, registered developers in Crimea are prohibited from creating and publishing new applications on Apple’s App store and are obligated to destroy all materials related to their agreements with the company. It follows the latest round of US sanctions over the Kremlin’s intervention in Ukraine, signed by President Obama on December 19. The punitive measures ban any US citizen or company from supplying or receiving goods, services or technology from Crimea. The latest development isolates the Russian-occupied Black Sea peninsula even further, following the Kremlin’s invasion and subsequent fig leaf referendum on annexation from Ukraine in March 2014. Fears that Russia could funnel troops and weapons through Crimea to militants in the Donbas region led authorities in Kyiv recently to severely restrict transport connections between the peninsula and the mainland. Check out our website: http://uatoday.tv Facebook: https://facebook.com/uatodaytv Twitter: https://twitter.com/uatodaytv