
Russian government officials have been ordered by the Kremlin to stop using iPhones over fears the devices could be monitored by Western intelligence services.
The news was made known by the Russian newspaper, "Kommersant", which writes that in the framework of a seminar for officials dealing with internal politics, Sergei Kiriyenko, the first deputy head of the presidential administration, invited them to change the equipment of their phone numbers at least until April 1.
“It's all over for the iPhone; either throw it away or give it to the children," one of the participants in the meeting was quoted as saying.
The Kremlin may provide other devices with different operating systems to replace the iPhones, the Russian newspaper added.
However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that he could not confirm the news, but added that iPhones are best not used for official matters.
"It is clear that smartphones, whatever they are, cannot be used for official purposes... Every smartphone is a fairly transparent mechanism, so it doesn't matter which operating system is Android or iOS," Peskov said, answering journalists' questions.