Sept 26 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google has

restricted the creation of new accounts for Russian users, state

news agencies cited Russia's digital ministry as saying on

Thursday.

Google has been under pressure in Russia for several years,

particularly for not taking down content Moscow considers

illegal and for blocking the YouTube channels of Russian media

and public figures since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"The ministry confirms that Google has restricted the

creation of new accounts," Interfax quoted the digital ministry

as saying. "Telecom operators have also recorded a significant

reduction in the number of SMS messages sent by the company to

Russian users."

Google and the ministry did not immediately respond to

comment requests.

The ministry said there was no certainty that SMS

confirmations for two-factor authentication would continue

working, Interfax reported.

"The ministry recommends that users of Google services

create backup copies of their data and switch to using

alternative methods of two-factor authentication or to domestic

platforms," the ministry said.

Google in August said it was deactivating AdSense accounts

in Russia.

The U.S. company stopped serving ads to users in Russia in

March 2022 and paused monetisation of content that exploited,

dismissed or condoned Russia's war in Ukraine.

It has blocked more than 1,000 YouTube channels, including

state-sponsored news, and over 5.5 million videos.

Slower speeds have been recorded on Google's YouTube video

hosting platform in Russia in recent months. Russian lawmakers

blame the slowdown on Google's failure to upgrade equipment,

something the company and technology experts dispute.