Russia is launching an Instagram clone called Rossgram, after the popular American photo-sharing app was banned in the country

• Russia is launching a new social platform called Rossgram after Instagram was banned in the country.
• Rossgram looks very similar in design to Instagram, going by pictures on its website.

Russian developers are launching an Instagram clone called Rossgram after the well-known American photo-sharing app was banned in the country.

According to its website, Rossgram is set to launch on March 28 to investors, sponsors, and the media, before opening to bloggers and other users.

"My partner Kirill Filimonov and our group of developers were already ready for this turn of events and decided not to miss the opportunity to create a Russian analog of a popular social network beloved by our compatriots," Alexander Zobov, co-founder of the app, wrote on the VKontakte social platform, per Reuters.

Rossgram looks very similar in design to Instagram — right down to the logo colors — going by pictures on its site.

"Rossgram is a new social network with a familiar and understandable interface, rich features, and simple working conditions," text on the website read.

Instagram was hugely popular in Russia and a crucial source of income for many small businesses and bloggers, per NBC News. But Russia banned the app from March 14, following the country's move to declare the platform's parent company, Meta, an "extremist organization" under Russian law.

Several Russian influencers were left in tears when they bid farewell to their millions of followers on the network last week.

Russia has seen a string of copycat versions of Western brands after the businesses exited the country under the threat of sanctions. For example, a Russian fast-food chain named Uncle Vanya's filed to trademark a logo resembling McDonald's iconic Golden Arches.