The Russian Federation will no longer be able to develop

Arkady Volozh, co-founder of Yandex, said the war with Ukraine marked the end of an era of development for Russia.

The Russian Federation will no longer be able to develop. Photo from Open Source

The Yandex co-founder said the invasion of Ukraine cost the Russian Federation development opportunities.

“My position has never changed. I have always believed that this war should not have started. It is barbaric. Ukraine is paying a terrible price. This also marks the end of an era in Russia. The country has a chance to go to a different, better, modern Russia that we are all working towards,” Arkady Volozh said.

The businessman said he regretted compromising with the Kremlin over censorship and not shutting down Yandex News in 2017.

“Although we saw good things disappear, we believed there was still a chance to change this dynamic. But the more successful Yandex became, the more it came under scrutiny from the authorities. We resisted as long as we could. But the moment when resistance became futile, even great achievements could be abused,” he said.

Arkady Volozh said that after Russia invaded Ukraine, operational control of Yandex was completely lost, so the only thing to do was to sell the business as quickly as possible.

Volozh also explained why he did not publicly condemn the war on the first day of the invasion. He said he did not want to put his employees who were in Russia and planned to emigrate in danger. Therefore, he did not speak out publicly until August 2023.

“If I had said what I really thought right away, we probably wouldn’t be sitting here today,” Arkady Volozh added.

Read Comments.ua on Google News