Apple reportedly agrees to store users' personal data on servers in Russia

According to a report in the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Apple has agreed to transfer the storage of Russians' user data to servers located in Russia. Apple's local partner is rumored to be the company IXcellerate, which recently reached a similar deal with the website Booking.com. 

Crediting an anonymous source "familiar with the situation," Kommersant says Apple concluded a "serious and major contract" with IXcellerate in July 2015, renting roughly 50 racks at the company's data center.

Both Apple and IXcellerate refused to comment, when contacted by Kommersant.

This is not the first time Apple has agreed to store user data on servers located in countries known for political censorship and privacy concerns. In addition to the spying problems revealed in the United States, Apple users in China are also exposed to government snooping. The company started housing iCloud user data at Chinese data centers in the summer of 2014, ostensibly to improve the service's speed and reliability. 

Russia's data-localization law took effect on September 1, 2015. Alexander Zharov, the head of Roskomnadzor, said in mid-July that officials won't begin fining or prosecuting violations of the law until the end of the year. According to Roskomnadzor, several companies have already begun relocating user data to servers in Russia. The list of these companies includes Samsung, Lenovo, Aliexpress, Ebay, PayPal, Uber, Booking.com, and others. Google and Facebook have reportedly yet to move any user data. Officials say Twitter is exempt from the new regulations.