The Kremlin is preparing for the election and wants to nationalize "Yandex" - isw

The Russian authorities forces Yandex to sell or distance international subsidiaries. Moreover, the Kremlin requires the owners of the FSB data to all users, not just Russians. The Kremlin tries to nationalize the Russian Internet giant Yandex to strengthen control of the Russian information space within the preparation for the election of Russian President in 2024. This conclusion was reached by analysts of the American Institute for Studying War. This is stated in the ISW report on August 10.

According to the Institute, Yandex has tried to balance between the Kremlin and its foreign governing bodies, but now it seems to lose the fight against the Kremlin. "It looks like the Kremlin forces" Yandex "to sell international subsidiaries or distance them, including the Yango Israel excursions service to comply with the strict Russian laws on the disclosure - The report says.

Earlier, the Government of the Russian Federation fined Yandex for failure to comply with this law, despite the company's statement that it cannot provide the requested data. Yandex CEO Artem Savinovsky was also fined for failure to comply with the Yandex laws on censorship. According to insiders, Yandex Corporate Development Advisor Alexei Kudrin unsuccessfully tried to turn Yandex into a national private company, which would be controlled by Putin's personal banker Yuriy Kovalchuk.

It should be reminded that one of the founders of Yandex Arkady Volozh released a statement in which for the first time since February 2022 he expressed his position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Volozh also acknowledged that it has a share of responsibility for the country's actions, although it has not resided in Russia since 2014. Earlier it was reported that the head of the Russian "Yandex" will stand before the "propaganda of LGBT".