Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google removed a protest-voting app from their Russian stores on Friday as parliamentary elections got under way, a move that pleased the Kremlin but drew swift anger from Washington and opposition activists. The US technology companies “have caved into the Kremlin’s blackmail,” Leonid Volkov, a top aide to jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, wrote on Telegram. The Putin critic’s supporters denounced the move as “a shameful act of political censorship”. Democratic US Senator Chris Murphy called the move “indefensible”. Google removed the app under pressure after officials threatened to imprison its local employees, a person…