Arkadi Voloj, the co-founder and managing director of Yandex, also known as “Russian Google,” resigned on Friday after being included in the European Union’s sixth package of sanctions against Russia. The businessman has been CEO since 2000.
“Arkadi Voloj, co-founder of the company, has resigned with immediate effect from his positions as CEO of Yandex NV and from managerial and executive positions in its international subsidiaries,” the company said in a statement.
Yandex is the largest search engine in the Russian-speaking space. It was created in 1997 and, until now, it has also developed taxi services, electronic commerce, food delivery, among others.
Voloj’s case is not isolated. On March 16, Brussels had already sanctioned Tigran Khudarverdyan, one of Yandex’s top officials. The sanctions resulted in Khudarverdyan’s resignation.
The company added that “neither Yandex nor the group’s subsidiaries were included in the sanctions lists of the European Union, the United States or the United Kingdom.”
Due to the war, Yandex is becoming increasingly isolated as key Western investors leave it, and according to the Financial Times, more than 75 percent of the company’s value has disappeared in the last six months.
Source: Observadora
