Popular music streaming service Spotify has canceled plans to open offices and launch their service in Russia, the RBC news website reported Monday.
Spotify reportedly last year hired Alexander Kubaneishvili, a former Google executive, to head their Russian business and were already in negotiations with local mobile operators.
“With regret I inform you that Spotify has decided against launching in Russia for the foreseeable future. There are several reasons — the economic crisis, the political situation, new laws and the regulation of the internet,” Kubaneishvili said, according to RBC.
The Sweden-based company is the latest in a series of foreign firms to announce their exit, or the scaling back of their projects in Russia, amid a ruble crisis, deepening economic recession and a political standoff with the West over fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Kubaneishvili will quit Spotify in February, according to RBC.
Spotify's international press service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The music streaming service originally planned to launch in Russia in October but the event was delayed to the beginning of 2015, according to a Sept. 4 report by Russian news agency TASS.
