Google has started blocking its popular workplace apps for Russian companies under United States sanctions, the Kommersant business dailyreported Friday, citing anonymous sources at two major IT companies.Around 30% of Russian companies corporate information is stored on Google Workspace services, which include Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Drive and other cloud-based tools, according to one of the sources estimates.Kommersants report did not specify how many of the1,400 Russian entities under United States sanctions have lost access to Google Workspace as a result of the ban.Alphabet Inc.s Google told Russian IT firms in a newsletter that it imposed the restrictions due to spam, one source told Kommersant without naming who sent the unsolicited messages.An anonymous source close to Google said there were no deliberate changes in access to Workspace apps in Russia, while Google Workspaces Russian distributor Softline has not yet witnessed a surge in restrictions, according to Kommersant.Google Workspace mainly enjoys popularity among small and medium-sized businesses in Russia, according to Yevgeny Fenyushin, product manager of the Russian online productivity suite My Office.Companies in these segments continue to use foreign services despite geopolitical changes in Russias relations with the West after invading Ukraine, Fenyushin told Kommersant.Users are used to working on them.Experts who spoke with Kommersant highlighted the risk that Russian businesses and not just state entities face in losing access to corporate information.Many organizations are delaying the switch to alternative workspaces, such as [Russias domestic tech giant] Yandex, hoping that Google will warn them about the ban in advance, said one of Kommersants sources.As part of its push to create a "sovereign internet," Moscow has sought to replicate the kind of online services that Google provides, thoughexperts have expressed skepticism that domestic alternatives are viable in the long term.In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Google in the spring of 2022banned sanctioned Russian companies from its Google Play app store and suspended advertising and payment-based services in Russia.The United States giants Russian armfiled for bankruptcy around the same time, citing multi-billion-ruble fines for failure to remove content banned in Russia.Even before invading Ukraine, Russia had amplified pressure on United States -based tech giants for what it calls interference in its domestic politics and a range of other infractions.