Russia is urging its citizens to switch to domestic smartphone AYYA T1 after American multinational technology giant Apple Inc announced earlier this week its decision of pausing all product sales in the country in response to Moscow's military operation in Ukraine.
Refusing to use the iPhone, Russian State Duma deputies Maria Butina and Denis Maidanov are now urging their fellow parliamentarians to use AYYA T1 smartphones developed by local company Smartecosystem, a subsidiary of the Scale Research Institute, part of the Rostec state corporation.
In a video which has now gone viral on Russian social media, Butina who was jailed in the United States in 2018 and labelled as a foreign agent before being deported to Moscow, called on her fellow parliamentarians to abandon the iPhone and switch to AYYA T1.
"You know what, good gentlemen from Apple, but go through the woods! And you, my dears, become an eyewitness of the first contact of the deputy with the domestic smartphone AYYA T1," Butina said in an Instagram post.
The main feature of the mobile phone, reported CNews – one of the largest high-tech publication in Russia and the CIS countries – last year, is a separate hardware button to turn off the cameras and microphone to avoid surveillance.
"So, baby Aya [AYYA] is the most reliable phone from prying eyes and ears! Let's break through, comrades. Don't even worry. And it wasn't like that," Butina wrote.
Butina added that the phone, which costs between 15 to 19 thousand rubles, will soon switch to the Russian-made Aurora from the mobile Android OS.
Established in 2007 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rostec developed innovative products, including military technologies, to become one of Russia's most affluent brands over the course of next 10 years.
In 2019, as part of its military and technical cooperation, Rostec premiered on the world scene its state-of-the-art Tornado-S Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), Pantsir-ME anti-aircraft missile and artillery system, and the new AK-12 assault rifle. Its aviation products include Irkut MC-21 airliner, jet fighter Sukhoi Su-57 and transport helicopter Mil Mi-38.
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