Yandex: Upset in Russia’s Russia amid sanctions, war and censorship

Miltos Sakellaris

When Tonia Samsonova started working for the Russian technology “giant” Yandex in 2019, she was a company that shared her vision to use innovation to solve everyday problems.

But shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Samsonova discovered – now frustrated – that a company associate was enforcing Kremlin censorship and providing almost no information about the bloody conflict in all neighboring cities.

“I realized that we as a company are responsible for this. “We are not victims, we are actors,” he told The Moscow Times. She resigned last month as head of Yandex Q&A.

This company has been – and remains – the “jewel” of the Russian technology scene for more than two decades. Many describe it as “Russia Google”. But it is increasingly being forced to balance its vision of an innovative, international future with the demands of an increasingly oppressive Russian government. Of course, balances are now quite difficult to maintain, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Since the start of the war, the New York-listed company has hidden news independent of search results and allowed Yandex News to … lead users to state media stories that repeat Kremlin messages about a “special operation” for the “liberation” of Donbass. In addition, Yandex has complied with Russian demands for the removal of BBC podcasts from its streaming services.

Lately, every move by Yandex has angered the public, with anti-war Russians accusing the company of being nothing more than a “tool of official censorship.”

“The Kremlin is in control of Yandex because it is in control of the Russian economy. We are a Russian company that must follow Russian law. “We had to follow the rules,” said a former Yandex employee who spoke to The Moscow Times on condition of anonymity.

The immediate future of the company is already considered uncertain. Last month, following EU sanctions, Tigran Kudavgerdian, who was deputy CEO of the Dutch company that holds Yandex’s portfolio, and the company’s chief executive, Elena Bunina, resigned. Both have reportedly already left Moscow and traveled to other countries.

Last Thursday, the company announced that it is significantly limiting its investments and that it is not going to announce its “financial forecasts” for this year. At the same time, it was announced that its shares were frozen in the New York Stock Exchange as a result of Western sanctions, as a result of which bondholders demanded repayment with a bond guarantee of $ 1.25 billion. Yandex also said on Thursday it had no money to repay and was negotiating debt restructuring.

The company also announced in March that it was looking for a buyer for Yandex News, and sources told The Moscow Times on Tuesday that Yandex owner Arkandy Voloz had tried to sell the company – as well as the Yandex Zen blogging platform – to the Russian “giant”. of the internet VKontakte, but his attempt was thwarted by summary proceedings with … help from the Kremlin. Yandex denied any government interference in the deal.

However, according to those who know the person and the situation in the company, the Russian state’s attempt for greater control over Yandex culminated in 2019, when the company granted two board positions to state-appointed directors, handed over a “golden share” to the Kremlin and consented. the establishment of a special institution with the power to “prevent transactions”.

However, immediately after the invasion, retaining the young, liberal Yandex workforce is likely to be the company’s most pressing concern. Some employees have resigned permanently and it is likely that there will be more departures, especially from engineers and developers who are in demand in the market.

Many of Yandex’s approximately 18,000 employees fled to Armenia and Israel after the invasion. Yandex has reportedly approached the Israeli government to relocate 800 employees and is seeking an office in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

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