LinkedIn fails to agree with Russia on restoring access to site

MOSCOW (Reuters) - LinkedIn Corp. has failed to reach an agreement with the Russian authorities to restore public access to the social networking website, the company and Russia's communications regulator said on Tuesday.

Russia blocked access to LinkedIn's website last year after a court found the firm guilty of violating a law that requires companies holding Russian citizens' data to store it on servers on Russian soil. [nL8N1DJ1VK]

Both LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft, and Russian regulator Roskomnadzor have said they were seeking to resolve the issue but acknowledged on Tuesday their talks had been unsuccessful.

"While we believe we comply with all applicable laws, and despite conversations with Roskomnadzor, including meeting with them in Moscow in December 2016, we have been unable to reach an understanding that would see them lift the block on LinkedIn in the Russian Federation," a LinkedIn spokesman said by email.

Roskomnadzor said in a statement LinkedIn had refused to move its storage sites holding the personal data of Russian users to Russia, "confirming its lack of interest in working on the Russian market". [nR4N1GE00F]

LinkedIn said its website would continue to be available in the Russian language and that it hoped to restore its service in Russia in the future.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning and Maria Kiselyova; editing by Susan Thomas)