The company won't have much choice but to respond. The Russian agency said it would treat continued promotion as "interference in the sovereign affairs" of the country and consider Google a "hostile influence" ostensibly bent on obstructing elections. Officials would have the "right to an adequate reaction," Roskomnadzor said.

We've asked Google for comment.

There's no mystery as to why Russia is raising the objection. Protests have continued to grow (the most recent as of this writing had about 50,000 participants), and they've turned increasingly from the Moscow-specific complaints to general dissatisfaction with President Putin's anti-democratic policies. A crackdown on YouTube would theoretically stifle attempts to rally these protests and maintain the status quo.

As in the past, this leaves Google in a difficult spot. Complying with the demand could hurt political freedom in Russia and hurt YouTube's reputation in the country, but defying it could lead to Russia blocking some or all of the video service. Neither choice is ideal for either free expression or YouTube's bottom line.