Does Vladimir Putin Take Control of Russian Google? The co-founder of Yandex, Russia’s leading Internet search engine, Arkadi Volozh condemned the war against Ukraine: “I am categorically against Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine, where I have, like so many, friends and relatives. fact that bombs fall on Ukrainian houses every day,” he said in a statement handed over by his collaborators to the independent portal Meduza. Meanwhile, the American think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) highlighted in its latest analysis of the conflict in Ukraine the likely attempt by the Kremlin to nationalize Yandex.
Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, the Russian government would force “Russian Google” to distance itself from its overseas subsidiaries, including Israeli “Uber” Yango, to comply with Russian data disclosure laws, which oblige Yandex to provide all the data of its users – and not just users in Russia – to the Federal Security Service (FSB). The company had already been fined for not providing this data, although Yandex said this was not technically possible.
The group’s current CEO, Artiom Savinovsky, was also fined for violating Russia’s censorship laws. Yesterday, the founder and former CEO of Yandex Volozh, who retired from the company after the Russian invasion, as mentioned, publicly criticized the “barbaric” offensive in Ukraine. ISW speculates a takeover of Yandex by the first deputy chief of staff of the Russian presidency, Sergey Kirienko, as “Putin would try to reward Kirienko for his personal loyalty, especially after the 24 June rebellion of the Wagner group”.
Source: IL Tempo
John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.
