Updated Arkady Volozh, CEO of Russia’s largest internet company Yandex, has resigned after being added to the list of people sanctioned by the European Union as part of its response to the illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Yandex is an analogue of Google, having started as a search engine and then added many productivity, cloud and social services. The company has since expanded into carpooling and e-commerce.
The European Union (EU) last Friday appointed Volozh and many others in its sixth round of sanctions against Russia.
“As the founder and CEO of Yandex, he supports, materially or financially, the government of the Russian Federation and is responsible for supporting actions or policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” the EU says on the list.
The document also accuses Yandex of “promoting media and state narratives in its search results, and of downgrading and removing content critical of the Kremlin, such as content related to the war of aggression of the Kremlin. Russia versus Ukraine”.
This question fits with a statement of the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, who explains that one of the objectives of the additional sanctions is “to ban more disinformation actors actively contributing to the war propaganda of the President Putin”.
Another problem is that Yandex’s complex ownership structure means the EU fears the Russian government could veto the company’s activities if they appear to run counter to the national interest.
This unflattering assessment of Yandex and Volozh appeared on Friday, just like a Yandex Statement which points out that the company itself has not been sanctioned by the European Union, the United States or the United Kingdom.
The statement, however, did not say whether Yandex believed it could escape sanctions if Volozh quit.
Yandex’s statement offers the following opinion: “We do not believe that these developments will affect the company’s operations, its financial condition or its relationship with its partners.”
One such development is the 45.3% voting rights and 8.6% ownership that Volozh holds in Yandex. He ceded the voting rights to a director who will follow the guidelines of Yandex’s board.
“While I consider this decision to be misguided and ultimately counterproductive, I do not intend to instruct my family trust while sanctions are in place,” Volozh reportedly said.
The new round of EU sanctions also led it to withdraw more Russian banks – Sberbank, Credit Bank of Moscow and Russian Agricultural Bank, as well as the Belarusian Bank for Development and Reconstruction – from the SWIFT interbank messaging system. , and to suspend three other Russian media. electrical outlets.
Another measure that could impact the tech community is a ban on providing consulting services to Russia (and accounting or public relations services, either).
The most important new sanction is a ban on Russian oil and gas – a measure that will rob the nation of much revenue, weaken its economy and theoretically also its ability to wage war. ®
Updated to add, at 0410 UTC, June 7 Yandex Board of Directors issued a statement in which the directors of the company call the sanctions against Volozh “totally unfair and based on an inaccurate understanding of Arkady and what Yandex is”.
The directors nevertheless accept that Volozh’s decision to step down was in Yandex’s best interest and have pledged to help the former CEO if he chooses to appeal EU sanctions.
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