Sanctioned Head of Russian Tech Giant Yandex Resigns

The president of the Russian tech giant, Tigran Judaverdian, resigned as head of the group after being included in a list of European sanctions.

“Tigran Judaverdian resigned, with immediate effect, his functions as CEO and Deputy CEO of Yandex,” the group said in a statement released Tuesday night.

The company, known as the “Russian Google”, is registered in the Netherlands and has European, British and US subsidiaries, although its main activities are in Russia and Russian-speaking countries.

This is an individual sanction against Judaverdian, of Armenian nationality, and not against the technology company.

The European Union (EU) adopted on Tuesday night a fourth set of sanctions against Moscow since the start of the Russian military offensive against Ukraine.

Fifteen oligarchs or industrialists, including billionaire Roman Abramovich, owner of the English football club Chelsea, have been blacklisted by Russians whose EU assets have been seized.

The EU justifies its sanctions against Yandex by accusing the company of being responsible for withholding information about the Ukrainian conflict from the Russian-speaking public.

Yandex, in turn, has said that it has “a strong management team installed” and that “the board of directors will review the appropriate management structure in the future.”

“We were shocked and surprised to learn that Tigran has been sanctioned by the EU and we are very sorry for his resignation,” said John Boynton, chairman of the group's board of directors.

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