By Alexander Marrow

MOSCOW, (Reuters) – A Russian businessman named on a U.S. Sanctions List claimed victory over Google on Thursday in a court case. The judge said the U.S. technology giant was now facing a possible heavy fine.

Google’s Alphabet had to appeal a Russian court order requiring it to unblock Tsargrad TV’s YouTube account. This channel is owned Christian Orthodox businessman Konstantin Malofeev. If Google fails, the fine would be doubled.

Tsargrad stated that the Ninth Moscow Arbitration Court of Appeal had upheld the penalty. Malofeev confirmed the verdict to Reuters as well, although he could not reach the court for comment despite numerous attempts via phone and email.

Google has not responded to my request for comment.

Russia is becoming lesstolerant of technology companies from abroad. Russia has already fined several for not deleting content Moscow considers illegal.

Tsargrad claimed that the fine would not continue to increase if it reached 1 trillion roubles ($13.6million), which it believed would be in mid-March next. It stated that the limit of 1 billion rubles would be lifted after nine months.

Both sides engaged in discussions since mid-2020. Tsargrad claimed in August that they had given up on talks and accused Google for being slow in reaching a settlement.

Google claimed in May that the proposed penalty was “out-of-all proportion”, and this decision caused uncertainty for foreign investors.

In 2014, the United States and European Union placed sanctions against Malofeev over allegations that he had funded pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine. He denies these accusations. Russia regards such Western sanctions as illegal.

Reuters heard Malofeev tell Reuters that Google had two options: to break Russian law again or to reinstate his channel with no penalties. He stated that breaking the law was never part of an investment climate.

YouTube was also criticized by Russian state-backed broadcaster RT for blocking its new RT DE channel the day before its launch.

($1 = 73.6310 roubles)