[alm1]

this is not whataboutism, it's actually guilty-by-associationism displayed on both sides. Should we blame children whose elderly parents support the war for taking care of their parents, instead of disowning them? Should we blame employees of Google for allowing employees of Lockheed Martin use Google maps during the Syria invasion? Should we blame employees of Yandex for paying taxes and working for a company which did not cease operations in Russia?

Where do you draw the line of association?

[JAlexoid]

Yandex is owned by one of Putin's pocket oligarchs and all of the management has been replaced by staunch loyalists, long time ago.

This isn't "guilt by association". Yandex is part of the Russian government structure.

I'm sorry that you don't know that.

[the-lazy-guy]

Would you mind saying what oligarch owns the company? It is a publically traded company. https://ir.yandex/shareholder-structure

Arkady Volozh is a rare case of a (very) rich man in Russia who actually created his wealth by creating a company from scratch. None of the upper management are loyalists which is exhibited by amount of people who left the company since the start of the war, including from top ranks.

Quite a few in top management stay. Not because it's all rosy, but because they have obligations for supporting people working for them and people and business who rely on them. This won't stop the war but will make more lives miserable.

You might say, that supporting Russian people and Russian companies is unethical. As a Russian I disagree. I totally condemn what Russian government is doing but I don't think you understand how Russian society is structured currently if you think that killing non-government business will change anything in governments course. (This saddens me a lot)

Disclaimer: I worked at Yandex till 2018 when I moved to another country. And I still maintain contact with a lot of wonderful people working there.

[JAlexoid]

> Arkady Volozh is a rare case of a (very) rich man in Russia who actually created his wealth by creating a company from scratch

Which excludes him from being a pocket oligarch... how exactly?

I don't know if Arkady is a good or bad person, but I know that he's one of the people dependent on the Putin's government to protect them.

Supporting Russian residents, that are "apolitical" has forever been a bad thing. As someone whose entire family is from Russia and most are still there - it would be weird of me to say that supporting Russia is unethical.

Condemning Yandex, however, is completely ethical... it also has nothing to do with people still working there... though now I will gladly condemn anyone still working for Yandex.

And I stand by my words - management is loyalists. Loyalists can stop being loyalists. They can be pro-Putin pre Feb 24, and I have a few of those in my own family.

[the-lazy-guy]

> I know that he's one of the people dependent on the Putin's government to protect them.

Would you give examples of this protection? Or the source of your knowledge.

There is a clear definition of "oligarch" in Russia (which does not match the actual meaning of the word in English. See wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_oligarchs). In no way Volozh matches it.

> Condemning Yandex, however, is completely ethical... it also has nothing to do with people still working there... though now I will gladly condemn anyone still working for Yandex.

I see your point. And I disagree with it. I don't think I will be able to convince you that you are wrong in this thread though. But at least I can point out where your facts (about Volozh) are wrong.