Google to move engineering operations from Russia

Google Inc would be moving its engineering operations out of Russia after the amid a crackdown on internet freedoms and a law regarding data-handling practices, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Though Google would be shutting its engineering unit in the country, it still planned to boost investment in Russia in 2015 and continue to station its sales and support there.

It was not the first time that Google had moved engineering teams from one country to another; it had done this in Finland and Sweden earlier.

A Google spokesman wrote in an email yesterday, ''We are deeply committed to our Russian users and customers and we have a dedicated team in Russia working to support them.''

Google, a major technology company in Russia, had been running into problems with regulators and new legislation recently. The dominant search engine in Russia is operated by Yandex.

According to LiveInternet.ru data, Google's share of the search market in Russia was up to 31 per cent in the third quarter, up from 27 per cent in the first, while Yandex fell to 60 per cent from 62 per cent.

Meanwhile, a few days back Google announced it would be shutting its Google News service in Spain from 16 December ahead of a new intellectual property coming into effect in January (See: Google to shut down Google News service in Spain).

In July this year the Russian parliament passed legislation to compel internet sites to store the personal data of Russian citizens inside the country, assailed by commentators as a move that could enable the government to crack down on its critics.

According to IDG News Service, it was not immediately clear whether Google's move was in response to the proposed rules. The report said the company might perhaps want to avoid exposing its sensitive work to Russian regulations, or make a statement on the proposed law.

Google had also earlier withdrawn from China partially in 2010, deciding not to self-censor its search engine. Google claimed to have uncovered a cyber attack that targeted the accounts of human rights activists (Google seen exiting China as talks deadlock).

Users visiting its Chinese site were redirected to its Hong Kong website. (China blocks access as Google exits to HK).