IT giants that left Russia can return only if they fully comply with grounding law - Federation Council commission head

MOSCOW. March 31 (Interfax) - IT giants that have left Russia can come back only if they fully comply with the grounding law, head of the Federation Council commission on information policy and mass media Alexei Pushkov said.

"As for companies that have left Russia and have had access to their resources restricted, it would be reasonable to condition their return and full resumption of operations in the Russian territory on their full-scale grounding," Pushkov said at the commission's meeting on Thursday.

The fulfillment of these requirements "should happen at once, instead of being phased," he said.

"They should be rebuffed if they fail to meet at least one provision of the law," Pushkov said.

It is "objectively more difficult" to comply with the law nowadays but this still needs to be done, he said.

In the opinion of Pushkov, the significance of platforms blocked in Russia "has been strongly exaggerated."

"I remember hearing claims that people would practically take to the streets if Facebook and Instagram [banned in Russia] were blocked. I have not seen anything like that. Did anyone take to the streets?" he said.