Report: Yandex likely to limit business in Ukraine, or quit country

ST. PETERSBURG, Jun 1 (PRIME) -- Russian Internet giant Yandex will most likely limit business in Ukraine, where its services were blocked in May, or leave the country because of activities of its government, the company’s General Director in Russia Alexander Shulgin said on Thursday in an interview with the NTV television channel.

Yandex is “extremely disappointed” by the moves of the Ukrainian authorities, Shulgin said.

“The Ukrainian government has imposed a number of sanctions on certain Russian IT companies, which makes our work in the country impossible. It’s very harmful, in the first place, for the Ukrainian community and the Ukrainian state. Most likely, our economic involvement in business in Ukraine will be reduced or zeroed,” the executive said.

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.

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