The social network YaRus associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin announced the closure – Kommersant

The Russian social network YaRus has announced that it is suspending its work, and from June 30 its servers will be turned off. In the Telegram channel of the social network specifiedthat the decision to “suspend the operation” of the service was made “after a thorough analysis of the current situation.” As before informed Center “Dossier” of Mikhail Khodorkovsky (declared in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent) with reference to leaked documents, Yarus was created with the money of the founder of PMC “Wagner” Yevgeny Prigozhin. A Kommersant source familiar with the plans of the management of the social network says that the parent company YaRus (JSC Dialog, the founders are not declared in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities) will be liquidated.

YaRus is “in search of new investors,” the message on the official social network account says: “We will definitely fulfill all obligations to pay premiums that have already been withdrawn. With all our partners, we will also end the relationship on a positive note.”

The YaRus social network started working in 2020. After the blocking of Facebook and Instagram in Russia in 2022 (Meta’s activity in maintaining these social networks was declared extremist in the Russian Federation and banned), the service began to be positioned in the media and advertising as one of the possible alternatives; in April 2022 mentioned ЯRus is among the Russian analogues of social networks and Meta messengers. The founder of YaRus Dmitry Ilyukhin in January 2023 claimed in an interview with RBC that the social network unites “more than 9 million people.”

Other media assets associated with Mr. Prigozhin include RIA FAN, Narodnye Novosti and other media outlets that are part of the Patriot media group. Roskomnadzor blocked them on June 24 under the pretext of suppressing the armed rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin. Now the work of the assets of the media group “Patriot” is paralyzed, “the issue of new management is being decided”, informed June 29 The Bell (announced as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation) with reference to sources.

Yuri Litvinenko