Europe Lifts Sanctions On Yandex Cofounder Arkady Volozh

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Arkady Volozh, the billionaire cofounder of Russia's biggest internet company, was removed from the EU sanctions list today, clearing the way for his return to the world of international tech. On Tuesday a spokesperson for the European Council confirmed to WIRED that the Yandex cofounder was among three people whose sanctions were lifted this week. Volozh, 60, was initially included on the EU sanctions list in June 2023, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 'Volozh is a leading businessperson involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation,' the blocsaidlast year to justify its decision. 'As founder and CEO of Yandex, he is supporting, materially or financially, the Government of the Russian Federation.' In response, Volozh stepped down from his position as Yandex CEO, calling the sanctions 'misguided.'

The removal of sanctions affecting one of Russian tech's most prominent figures will be especially significant if Volozh goes on to build Yandex 2.0 inside Europe. The billionaire maintains strong ties to exiled Russian tech talent, with thousands of Yandex staff leaving the country after the start of the war. 'These people are now out, and in a position to start something new, continuing to drive technological innovation,' Volozh said in the same 2023 statement. 'They will be a tremendous asset to the countries in which they land.' Yandex is widely known as 'Russia's Google' because it monopolizes the Russian search market and offers many other services, including Yandex Music for streaming, Yandex Navigator for maps, and Yandex Go for hailing a ride. 'Over the past 18 months, [Dutch-based Yandex NV] has been involved in complex negotiations with the Kremlin, in an attempt to sell its Russian operations while carving out four Europe-based units, which include businesses focused on self-driving cars, cloud computing, data labeling, and education tech,' reports Wired.

Last month, Yandex NV reached a 'binding agreement' to sell its operations in the country for $5.2 billion -- a price that reflects a 50% discount that Moscow imposes on companies from 'unfriendly' countries like the Netherlands as a condition of exiting business in Russia.

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