The European Union will lift sanctions against the founder of Yandex Volozh

The EU will lift sanctions against the founder of Yandex Volozh. According to REUTERS , he will be one of three individuals who will be removed from the list after March 15. Lawyers for a businessman in the EU COURT asked to lift sanctions after an anti-war statement Arkady Volozh

EU countries have agreed to exclude Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh ( FORBES estimates his fortune at $1.1 billion) from the sanctions list, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Finnish agency STT also reported that sanctions against Volozh would be lifted, TASS reports .

According to Reuters interlocutors, Volozh is one of three individuals who will be removed from the list after March 15, when the sanctions regime is extended. Earlier, the agency’s sources said that “legal arguments in court against Volozh have weakened, given the proposed complete alienation of assets.”

RBC contacted Volozh's representative for comment.

Volozh came under European sanctions on June 3, 2022. On the same day, Yandex announced that he would leave the position of CEO of the group of companies, the board of directors and leave leadership positions in international subsidiaries. At the end of December, the businessman wrote a letter to employees saying that he was leaving Yandex. The company then clarified to RBC that after leaving management positions, the entrepreneur was an external consultant for some time.

In August 2023, Volozh criticized the military operation in Ukraine . “There were many reasons why I had to remain silent. One can argue about the timeliness of my statement, but not about its essence. I am against war,” he said. The businessman noted that he has friends and relatives in Ukraine and is “horrified.” Volozh said that in 2014 he moved to Israel, and in February 2022 he realized that his “story with Yandex” was over.”

The Financial Times wrote that shortly after this statement, Volozh’s lawyers asked the EU to lift sanctions against him.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that Volozh's statement was connected with his move to Israel. “He lives in Israel, and I can imagine that in order to live there at a good level and have good relations with the authorities there, he is forced to make certain statements,” he said at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in September.

In February, the board of directors of the parent company of the Yandex group, Yandex NV, approved the sale of the Russian business to a consortium of private investors.

The share capital of Yandex NV was divided between the Volozh family trust (8.5%) and other company employees (3.2%), the remaining 87.6% are in free float. At the same time, the main owners of voting shares are the Volozh family trust (45.1%) and members of the board of directors, officers and employees of the company (6.6%). In July 2022, by decision of Arkady Volozh, his family trust transferred its voting rights to independent members of the company's board of directors: it votes shares only according to their recommendations.