Report: Kiev looks for ground to push out Yandex – Russian pres aide

MOSCOW, May 31 (PRIME) -- Ukrainian authorities that accused Internet giant Yandex of citizens’ data transfer to Russian special services have just needed a reason to squeeze the company out of the Ukrainian Internet environment, but such statements would be hard to prove, Russian presidential aide Igor Shchyogolev said on Wednesday.

“There are two aspects here. The first is an active campaign of Ukrainian authorities to push Russian companies out of the media environment, out of the Ukrainian Internet field. No holds barred,” Shchyogolev said in an interview with Rossiya 24 television channel.

“As we’ve witnessed, the decisions to ban a number of Russian resources provoked quite a serious discontent among Ukrainian users. That’s why they needed a reason, and specialists were in charge of making it out.”

Resources of Yandex and its fellow Mail.Ru Group, as well as a number of Russian television channels, have been banned in Ukraine since May 17 under President Pyotr Poroshenko’s sanctions against a list of Russian companies and individuals.

The Security Service of Ukraine initiated on Monday searches in Yandex’s offices in the cities of Kiev and Odessa under a treason case. Ukrainian law enforcement authorities suspect Yandex’s management of illegally collecting, accumulating, and handing over to Russia personal data of Ukrainian citizens, as the service said then.

Shchyogolev said that it would be more difficult to prove anything. “Yandex is a company created by Russian specialists and is perceived as a Russian one all over the world, but it’s traded on the stock exchange and has a board of directors and other resources and specialists outside Russia. The company highly values its reputation,” he said.

“The scenario proposed by the Security Service of Ukraine seems unlikely,” he said, adding that Yandex can go to court to protect its interests.

“The campaign against Russian resources in the Ukrainian segment of the Internet is not approved of in those countries that have been recently inclined to support Ukraine, because it’s a massive attack against the freedom of speech.”

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