Google will shut down its engineering office in Russia following new laws on censorship and surveillance in the country.

The crackdown on the Russian Internet comes after NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked details on U.S. surveillance. Snowden currently resides in Russia, after gaining full asylum into the country.

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Russia wants all technology companies to have servers inside the country, and wants them to be built on specifications given by the Russian government. Various critics claim the move will give Russia more surveillance power inside its own borders.

Google will still offer other services inside Russia and claims it is "committed" to the Russian audience. The 100 or so workers at Google's Russian engineering office will be offered jobs in other countries.

The move is reminiscent of Google's experience in China in 2011, after censorship started to become a big problem for the search engine there. Russian requests to remove search results have doubled since 2013, to almost 300.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has actively pushed to leave Russia. Brin also pushed to move out of China in 2011.

Brin's parents both explored scientific fields, but anti-Semitism in Russia meant his family had to emigrate to the U.S. His childhood, alongside CEO Larry Page's ambitious new projects, makes them both big supporters of free speech and low government censorship.

The battle for freedom of speech has removed Google from the most lucrative Internet market in the world, and they might be moving out of another huge market soon.

TagsSergey Brin, Russia, censorship, surveillance