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Volozh stepped down as CEO and left the board of directors after
the European Union included him on its list of sanctions against
Russian entities and individuals in June. Volozh called the EU's
decision "misguided".
"As you know, I haven’t really been involved in Yandex’s Russian
business for some time, but this year I had to step down from
the company completely," Volozh said in the message, seen by
Reuters.
"With everything happening over the past several months, I
realise that I never said goodbye. New Year is the right
opportunity to fix that," he said.
"Yandex was the project of a lifetime for me, and not only for
me," he said. "Thanks to everyone who helped to build the best
technology company in the country."
Yandex declined to comment.
Yandex's Dutch-registered holding company last month said it
planned to divest ownership and control of most of Yandex Group,
including its main revenue-generating businesses, a move that
could lead to enhanced Kremlin influence over some of Russia's
backbone internet services.
The international divisions of Yandex's self-driving
technologies cloud computing, data labelling, and edtech would
then be developed independently from Russia.
"It's my hope to be able to advise the four international
start-ups, that might in the future develop independently from
Yandex," Volozh said.
"May the next year bring peace to everyone."
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; additional reporting by Felix
Light; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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