People may have different opinions regarding wars. But most people should know that wars can cost lives, political tensions, and lots of blood and tears that can last for generations.
In the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, some remain neutral, when others sided with Ukraine, and the rest sided with Russia.
And Yandex, one of the biggest tech companies from Russia, is among those that is against the war.
The company that is often referred to as Russia's Google, is the country's largest internet business best known for its search browser and ride-hailing apps. But its Dutch-based parent company, Yandex N.V., wants out of Russia because of the potential negative impact the Ukrainian invasion could have on its business.
Yandex N.V. said that its board had "commenced a strategic process to review options to restructure the group's ownership and governance in light of the current geopolitical environment."
These options, Yandex said, included developing some of its international divisions "independently from Russia," and divesting "ownership and control of all other businesses in the Yandex Group," the company said, adding that: "This process is at a preliminary stage."
This statement is a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, considering how it would affect his plans to foster Russian-grown alternatives for Western technology.
After all, Putin is known to have made numerous efforts in producing Russian technology and goods as sanctions cut access to Western suppliers.
Previously, it is reported that Yandex N.V. would move its businesses and promising technologies - including self-driving cars, machine learning, and cloud-computing services - outside of Russia, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
Yandex N.V. wanted to do this, because those businesses need need access to Western markets, experts, and technology, all of which is unviable while the war between Russia and Ukraine rages on, and Western sanctions remain in place.
These technologies would fail if they remain associated with Russia, a report said.
In order for this to happen, Yandex's Dutch holding company needs to sell its operations in the country and spin off its main international projects.
Yandex N.V. also requires Kremlin's approval, because if Yandex N.V. wants to exit Russia, it needs to transfer its existing Russian-registered tech licenses to outside the country.
But most importantly, it needs to find buyers for its businesses, and the overall restructuring plan would need to be approved by Yandex’s shareholders.
The company’s restructuring plan was first reported by the Russian economic media outlet The Bell.
The company has informally enlisted former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin to win Putin's approval, in principle, for the restructuring plan, according to the report.
Kudrin, a Russian chief government auditor and a longtime confidant of Putin, is one of few prominent economic liberals left in the Russian government, and this time he is acting for the company informally.
And Putin shall give his final assent.
It's worth noting that Kudrin is expected to leave his role at the Audit Chamber, a government accountability body, for a leading position at Yandex, the report said.
"Kudrin is someone who the company feel is a good person to navigate this because he is liberal enough to understand that Russia needs a private internet company, free from nationalization, and who has credibility in Putin's eyes," one of the sources said.
In way or another, the move means that Yandex's business, once hailed as a rare Russian business success story, needs to deal with even more struggles.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, the tech giant employed more than 18,000 people, and was worth more than $31 billion.
But since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Yandex employees have left Russia, and the valuation of the company's New York-listed shares lost more than $20 billion in value almost immediately after the war. That, before NASDAQ suspended trading in its shares.
At the same time, Yandex's Moscow-listed shares dropped by more than 50%.
Western efforts to isolate Russia economically after its invasion of Ukraine have devastated the once-thriving company, and as a company, it needs to thrive.
Yandex N.V. wants to get out of this, before things get worse for its business' longevity.
