CEO of “Russia’s Google” resigns after months of meeting room chaos from Europe’s sanctions chain

Arkady Volozh, co-founder of Russian tech giant Yandex, has stepped down as CEO and chief executive officer of the company after… EU punish him personally. The company announced Volozh’s resignation in a press release published June 6. This makes Volozh the fourth member of Yandex’s board to step down in the past several months. It is known that Yandex is Russia’s largest technology company and is often referred to as the “Google of Russia”. Wired reported in March that the company’s search engine accounts for 60% of Russia’s search market share.

The EU has imposed sanctions on Volozh as part of a sixth round of sanctions against Russia. The EU said in its sanctions list Volozh had “supported, materially or financially, the Government of the Russian Federation” as CEO of Yandex, described as an “internet company”. biggest in Russia.”

The sanctions list from the EU specifically states: “Yandex is also responsible for promoting Russian state media and narratives in its search results, and for downgrading and removing content critical of electricity.” Kremlin, such as content related to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Volozh called the decision to impose sanctions against him “misguided and ultimately counterproductive” in a statement issued in Yandex’s press release that led into his resignation announcement. However, Yandex’s Board of Directors “continues to operate as usual,” the company said in its press statement. Neither Yandex nor Arkady Volozh immediately responded to Insider’s request for further comment on the matter.

However, Volozh is not the only Yandex executive affected by the sanctions. Yandex’s deputy CEO, Tigran Khudaverdyan, resigned in March after the EU sanctioned him for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Two American board members of Yandex, technology investor Esther Dyson and Stanford University professor Ilya Strebulaev, also resigned in March.

Inside the shattered boardroom at Yandex, Russia’s largest tech company, free-falling by Putin’s Ukraine war

Within weeks of the outbreak of hostilities, the ripples of the war in Ukraine created major changes in Yandex’s business and its boardrooms. Not only was the Russian stock market closed, but Yandex’s foreign-listed shares on Nasdaq were also suspended, risking a default of more than $1 billion. Some of the company’s business activities were closed, and some segments were also included in the auction. And Yandex’s deputy chief executive and chief executive officer, Tigran Khudaverdyan, has been sanctioned by the European Union for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which led to his resignation from the company.

Two other Yandex board members, both from the US, also resigned a few weeks after the meeting: Esther Dyson, a prominent technology investor, and Ilya Strebulaev, a Stanford business school professor. The other three Western board members at Yandex continue to vow to “support our extraordinary management team and employees during these exceptional times, and protect the interests of our creditors.” , our shareholders, users and other stakeholders,” as John Boynton, an American and president, stated.

However, the fact that the Board of Directors is fractured has left Yandex in an uncertain future, as the company and a number of non-Russian directors try to balance principles and competitive pressures as well as competitive pressures. The friction between the Russian and American governments has reached levels not seen since the Cold War, but it is hopeless.

“It’s a knife we’re trying to get here; we need to take care of the health and safety of our employees,” said a person close to the company. said, and also noted the potential risks in Russia.” While Yandex is registered as a company in the Netherlands, most of its operations and 18,000 employees are in Russia.

Uncertainty at Yandex is flaring as more American and European companies doing business in Russia embrace the right approach – some, such as McDonald’s and Starbucks, have closed their stores in Russia. .

Pressure from outside the meeting room

Dyson, who The Washington Post once described as “the guiding spirit of the emerging computer industry in Eastern Europe and Russia”, and Strebulaev, the Stanford professor, have not publicly said why they resigned. But both face immense pressure from their networks to speak out against Russia, according to people close to the company.

Strebulaev, a dual citizen of the United States and Russia, received letters from student groups at Stanford urging him to urge Yandex to speak out against the war or to resign from the board of trustees. of people close to the company told Insider.

“Ilya and Esther feel a lot of pressure to make public comment and they feel the best way to do so is to resign as individuals,” the person said.

Dyson, a former journalist, is particularly concerned about Russian censorship. She then added: “It’s not suddenly the sun goes down and the next morning all that changes. But it’s slowly happening, like all the things Yandex are experiencing right now.”