Searches in the offices of Yandex in Kyiv and Odessa. The company is suspected of state

On Monday, May 29, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) conducted searches in the offices of Yandex in Kyiv and Odessa. The security forces said that the searches took place under the article on state treason. Investigators allegedly discovered signs that the company illegally collected the personal data of Ukrainians and transferred them to Russia. Earlier, on May 16, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on the expansion of sanctions against Russian companies; Yandex also got into the list - its services are blocked in Ukraine. Kyiv correspondent of Medusa Juliana Skibitskaya says that it is known about searches in the company.

The searches of March 29 were reported in the press service of the Russian Yandex, later this information was confirmed by the SBU. At about an hour in the afternoon, the Yandex press service said that in two offices of the company-searches are being held in Kyiv and Odessa. Representatives of Yandex added that they do not know about the causes of what is happening, but are ready to provide the security forces with the necessary information. SBU spokesman Elena Gitlyanskaya wrote on her Facebook that searches are held “in the framework of criminal production opened under Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine”; We are talking about state treason.

The Ukrainian edition of Vesti initially suggested that the cause of the search could be a procession in Kiev. In the summer of 2016, a large -scale procession of believers was held in Ukraine, which was organized by the Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. As Vesti writes, the SBU in court asked for access to the correspondence of one of the organizers of the procession. According to the security forces, during the procession, the participants performed the anthem of the Russian Empire “God, keep the king” - as a result, they made a criminal case of an encroachment on the territorial integrity of the country. Yandex refused to provide access to correspondence; According to Vesti, the company simply did not have it.

On the evening of May 29, the SBU was called another reason for the searches: “Yandex” could transfer the personal data of Ukrainians to the Russian authorities. According to the SBU press release, Yandex collected data on the “lifestyle”, a place of residence, sources and amounts of income, as well as email addresses of citizens of the country. Why these data could be needed in Russia, the SBU was not specified. In addition, according to investigators, Yandex could transfer to the Russian special services the personal data of Ukrainian soldiers and officers, including those who fight in the east of the country with the separatists of Donbass.

The SBU said that servers and documentation were seized in Yandex. They intend to verify the "redirecting of traffic to Russia and the coordination of unlawful activities from the territory of the Russian Federation."

In Yandex, they categorically rejected the accusations against them. “Today in our offices in Kyiv and in Odessa, SBU searches were held. From what we know, our employees of Yandex.Crain LLC are accused of transmitting personal information about Ukrainian users to Russian special services. But neither the employees of Yandex.Chorins, nor the leadership of the Ukrainian unit had access to personal data of users. Protection of personal data of our users in all countries where we provide services is the highest priority. In particular, to ensure this, user data are depersonalized and anonymous. There was no data transfer of Yandex of. Now we are consulting with lawyers and will take the necessary legal actions to protect our team, ”Medusa told the company's press service.

Yandex (and its services) is included in the list of sites blocked in Ukraine. On May 16, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on the expansion of sanctions against Russia, which implies the blocking of Yandex, Mail.ru, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki in Ukraine. Almost all Ukrainian providers have already fulfilled the presidential decree. Access to sites was banned by Ukrtelecom, Lanet, Volya, Kyivstar, Vodafone (formerly MTS) and LifeCell mobile operators. Some other sites that are not on the president’s list are blocked - for example, the Dvach forum.

Residents of Ukraine massively bypass locks using VPN services. As a result, the LiveInternet statistics service recorded a sharp increase in visits to Russian sites from Germany and the Netherlands.

Juliana Skibitskaya, Kiev; Sultan Suleimanov