EU authorities will discuss Arkady Volozh’s request to lift sanctions next month

The pacifist statement, in which the businessman also indicates that his “story with Yandex has ended”, will be the main defense argument and the reason for the discussions of European officials at a meeting “next month”, according to the Financial Times thanks to an anonymous source.

The speaker also stressed that Volozh would like to talk about the events in Ukraine and his position in 2022, but “he felt responsible for his people” in Russia, and now the statement is possible: “Finally they all left, that’s why it happened now “.

According to the newspaper’s interlocutor, the businessman “is very concerned about the sanctions and about his reputation.” This was noted earlier, when he began to position himself as a Kazakhstan-born Israeli businessman.

Volozh has not lived or worked in the Russian Federation since 2014, but in his statement he noted that he feels “and I have a share of responsibility for the country’s actions.” And yet: “You can argue about the topicality of my statement, but not about its substance.” The businessman also clarified: “In February 2022 the world changed and I realized that my story with Yandex was over.”

Recall that on the day Volozh was sanctioned, the corporation announced that it would leave the post of general director of the group of companies, and already in December it was said that it would not cooperate with international subsidiaries or even hold consulting positions.

The Yandex co-founder himself did not comment on the appeal to the EU in response to a request from the FT.

Previously, Oleg Tinkov turned to the UK authorities to request the lifting of the sanction and the European country agreed to his request. A source in the Financial Times, commenting on Volozh’s appeal, also notes that “there are hundreds of other Russian businessmen who have been sanctioned and are closely following what Brussels is doing.”

In this context, the publication’s analysts are confident that over time the calls will become systemic and EU officials are now faced with the difficult task of finding “paths of withdrawal” in relation to the sanctioned Russians who condemn the conflict. ukrainian.

The Financial Times writes that the sanctions can be lifted by court decision if the EU authorities find “convincing” evidence that they were applied undeservedly. The restrictions are extended every six months, the next stage is September 15.