UPDATE: Russian watchdog blocks Chinese messenger WeChat for lack of info

(Adds more comments, background in paragraphs 3, 7)

MOSCOW, May 5 (PRIME) -- The Russian communications service has blocked Chinese messenger WeChat, Vadim Ampelonsky, a spokesman for the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media, said on Friday.

“The messenger did not submit its contact data for the register of organizers of information distribution,” Ampelonsky told PRIME.

“We’re sending letters to iTunes and Google Play to block the application. We’re waiting for feedback. If we don’t get it, access to the messenger will be limited through connection operators.”

Web site wechat.com was added to the register of banned Web sites with a restricting mark that implies blocking of all service’s IP addresses and technical domains.

According to portal vc.ru, WeChat is one of the world’s biggest messengers with audience exceeding 890 million users per month.

On Tuesday, the Russian watchdog added addresses of messengers BlackBerry Messenger, Imo, and Line, as well as audio visual chat Vchat to the list of banned Web sites for the same reason as in the WeChat case.

Resources are blocked in several stages. First, they are added to the register of banned Web sites, then the communications service asks operators, providers and application stores to block a Web site.

End