Volozh was mistakenly placed under sanctions as the main shareholder of Yandex – Kommersant

The lawyer of Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh, Philip Goeth, said that the businessman is mistakenly called the main shareholder of the company, since he does not have legal rights of ownership and control over the company. Mr. Volozh was named the largest shareholder of Yandex in the sanctions list European Union.

Today, December 13, a hearing was held at the European Court of General Jurisdiction, at which representatives of Arkady Volozh sought the lifting of sanctions against him. According to Philip Goeth, quoted Bloomberghis client transferred his 8.6% stake in Yandex NV to an “independent trustee.”

According to lawyers, Arkady Volozh is considered an “enemy of the state” in Russia, which means he cannot be involved in the Russian economic sector. The lawyer representing the EU rejected this argument and noted that Mr. Volozh was and remains one of the leading Russian businessmen.

Another lawyer, William July, added that Arkady Volozh was never close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and did not build his business “on the wave of privatization and government contracts.” He also noted that the businessman publicly condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine and considers it impossible to return to the Russian Federation. Taking into account these circumstances, lawyers insist on lifting the sanctions against Mr. Volozh.

Arkady Volozh came under EU sanctions in June 2022. The EU magazine noted that Yandex is “responsible for promoting state media,” downgrading materials critical of the authorities, and also follows the Russian government’s “information policies and censorship.” Following this, Yandex announced that the businessman would leave the position of CEO of the company, the board of directors and senior positions in international subsidiaries.

In August of this year, Arkady Volozh spoke against a special operation in Ukraine. He noted that before he “had many reasons why I had to remain silent.” Later, how reported Financial Times newspaper, lawyers sent a request to the EU authorities asking them to remove the businessman from the sanctions list.

Read more about the situation in the Kommersant FM article. “Yandex NV is looking for a way out”.

Lusine Balasyan