Spotify cancels Russia launch due to economic crisis: Independent

[NEW YORK] Online music streaming service Spotify has cancelled its launch in Russia for the forseeable future because of the economic crisis, political situation and new Internet laws, Britain's Independent said, quoting Russia's RBC news agency.

Former Google executive Alexander Kubaneishvili, who was supposed to lead Spotify's operations in Russia, wrote a letter to partners saying "the economic crisis, the political situation, the new laws governing the internet" were the reasons for Spotify's decision, the Independent said. Spotify declined to comment on the report.

In a separate statement to Russia's Tass news agency, Kubaneishvili said he was no longer working for Spotify and would leave by Feb 12, the newspaper said.

Spotify is not the first company to go back on its plans for Russia.

Last year, Google Inc closed its engineering office in Russia in response to a new law that requires all Internet companies to move Russian data onto servers based in Russia, or face being blocked from the web.

REUTERS