That law was signed yesterday. Yandex has been operating for 25 years. Let's not pretend that they are the victim here. The Russian oligarchy has been fully complicit and even instrumental in getting the country to the state it is in today. Yandex itself has been an arm of Putin's government for many years (https://www.ft.com/content/dce2e23c-15c5-11ea-8d73-6303645ac...).
You are right it didn't start yesterday. Over the years Putin slowly but surely took control over all main media and news sources and the country let him with little to no resistance, but today it is too late. The remaining liberal channels were shut down this week.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-prosecutors-dem...
Long before the censorship, when they got plenty of leverage to meaningfully resist it, Yandex was one of the first companies supporting the "Safe Internet League", along with Vimpelcom and others. They were the first to run to Kremlin in an attempt to strike a deal to guarantee themselves a place under the sun in a brave new world, long before the first censorship laws were even discussed.
Yandex picked the sides long ago, and now they are paying for being on the wrong side of the history. They aren't just complicit in censorship somehow, they are the censors themselves.
Moldova just announced that if you openly support the war/the Russian invasion in neighbouring Ukraine you risk prison, so it can also go the other way. I sort of understand why Moldova is doing it (small country a throne's stone away from Odessa and the Russian troops), the idea is that all sides are giving up democracy and the rule of law as fast as they can (the West a little slower, but it's following the same path).
I hope you're honourably on your way to Ukraine then.
If you're willing to condemn them and their families to 15 years of prison for "honour", it's the least you could do.
My point is that it's extremely easy to condemn people online, but 99% of Westerners have never even had a contrarian position, let alone a contrarian position against an authoritarian government.
Canadians had a hint of it during the Trucker Protest if they donated and had their banking cancelled, but that's been about as close as the West has been to this sort of regime.
The point of sanctions is to make people like these Yandex employees discontented. Before they could shrug their shoulders, going along with it because there was little choice, and live their lives in stability and comfort, sheltered from the atrocities perpetrated by their government. But now they are harmed through economic retaliation. Ideally it drives down Russian support for the war and Putin's popularity, which right now are disgustingly high.
Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, it's drastic and heavily coercive, and it's arguably collateral damage. But it's not like these Russian programmers are having their apartments shelled. This is war through other means, and war is hell.
paxys|4 years ago
trhway|4 years ago
molodec|4 years ago
orbital-decay|4 years ago
Yandex picked the sides long ago, and now they are paying for being on the wrong side of the history. They aren't just complicit in censorship somehow, they are the censors themselves.
molodec|4 years ago
paganel|4 years ago
llIIllIIllIIl|4 years ago
tenpies|4 years ago
If you're willing to condemn them and their families to 15 years of prison for "honour", it's the least you could do.
My point is that it's extremely easy to condemn people online, but 99% of Westerners have never even had a contrarian position, let alone a contrarian position against an authoritarian government.
Canadians had a hint of it during the Trucker Protest if they donated and had their banking cancelled, but that's been about as close as the West has been to this sort of regime.
rectang|4 years ago
Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, it's drastic and heavily coercive, and it's arguably collateral damage. But it's not like these Russian programmers are having their apartments shelled. This is war through other means, and war is hell.
vertis|4 years ago