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In Russia, one of the largest technology companies in the world, Google, is being demanded an incredible amount of money in the amount of 2 undecillion rubles (36 zeros). In particular, this became known after the company refused to pay fines that accumulate due to the blocking of pro-Russian channels on YouTube, writes CNN.
“The virtually unspeakable penalty is $20 decillion – or about 20 billion trillion trillion dollars. This is many times smaller than the size of the world economy," the publication emphasized.
According to the International Monetary Fund, global gross domestic product of $110 trillion pales in comparison. At the same time, the market value of Google's parent company, Alphabet, is about $2 trillion.
In turn, the Russian mass media reported that the Russian court had previously ordered Google to restore YouTube channels, including those that were blocked back in 2022. The court emphasized that if this is not done, the charges will increase and the fines will double every week.
When journalists asked Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov about the lawsuit, he said that he "can't even pronounce this figure correctly", but emphasized that such an amount is "filled with symbolism". According to him, Google "should not limit the actions of our broadcasters on its platform."
However, Google believes that such lawsuits will not have a negative impact on the company's profits.
“Civil judgments, which include heavy fines, have been issued against us in connection with account closure disputes, including those of sanctioned individuals. We do not believe that these ongoing legal cases will have a significant negative impact (on earnings),” the company said in a comment to CNN.
At the same time, the head of the Fund for the Development of the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation Herman Klymenko does not rule out that the company can independently cut off Russians' access to free services.
"I will not be surprised if Google simply forbids us to use free services as a result, it will simply be impossible to go in and register there," said Klymenko in a comment for Russian mass media.
Sanction pressure on Russia is the latest news
Earlier, the ambassador of the Russian Federation in India, Denis Alipov, said that Indian banks do not want to facilitate trade with Russian companies in order not to fall under US sanctions. He noted that banks in India with ties to America are "concerned about secondary US sanctions."
Great Britain also introduced new sanctions against the Russian Federation due to the fact that the aggressor country uses chemical weapons against Ukraine. It is about the use by the Russian military at the front of a substance called chlorpicrin, which is recognized as a chemical weapon by the International Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
