WhatsApp accused Moscow of trying to block millions of Russians from accessing secure communication after calls on the messaging app were restricted, as Russia promotes home-grown social media platforms and seeks greater control over the country's internet space.

PARTIAL BLOCK Russia started restricting WhatsApp from Wednesday. It had clashed with foreign tech platforms for several years over content and data storage. United Arab Emirates (UAE) has banned most applications using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services - free internet-to-internet voice and video calls - starting in 2017.