Google.com is working.
This ban is connected to "illegal gambling site" advertising hyperlink on google adwords, they put the redirect trough google.ru
google.ru/aclk?....
This mean, that google adwords respect not the local Law.
Someone claim that google.com is banned too
Well Google better resolve that quickly if they want to continue doing business there. It could get to the point the Russian gov't might pick on them and ban their other services.
What do they intend by doing this?
Perhaps they are trying to help the local competitors of Google, such as Yandex. This is something that China has done for well over a decade. They have tried to ban FaceBook, Twitter.etc, so that the local Chinese competitors can capture the market share.
First time I heard Yandex. Is it just a search engine or the company offer other services. I agree with what you said about China. Aside from keeping the money in the country, it also helps with censorship. Since those companies' businesses are entirely in China (Weibo for example), the government can't exert pressure. That's why despite Zuckerberg talking with them, Facebook is still not legally available there.
