KIEV: Kiev security services on Monday said they were conducting searches in the Ukrainian offices of the popular Russian Internet company Yandex as part of a treason probe.
“The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is conducting searches in the offices of the subsidiary of the Russian company Yandex in Kiev and Odessa,” SBU spokeswoman Olena Gitlyanska wrote on her Facebook page.
Gitlyanska specified that the search is part of a criminal probe into “state treason,” though without specifying what Yandex Ukraine’s alleged role is in the probe.
The company’s press service told Russian news agency Tass that they have no information about the reasons of SBU actions.
“Lawyers are already on their way to our offices,” Yandex said, adding that the company is ready to “provide the necessary information.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “there is not enough information to understand what is going on — are these investigative actions or an audit.:
The move comes after Ukraine blocked Russia’s most popular social media networks and the Yandex search engine earlier this month in response to the Kremlin’s alleged backing of a three-year separatist war in the east.
Peskov had called Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s decision “another manifestation of unfriendly, short-sighted policy toward Russia.”
The ban remains in effect for three years.
Offices of search engine Yandex raided in Ukraine
Offices of search engine Yandex raided in Ukraine
Louvre workers vote to extend a strike
- Tensions have been further sharpened by fallout from the theft of crown jewels during a daylight robbery that exposed serious security lapses at the museum
PARIS: Employees at the Louvre Museum voted to extend a strike that has disrupted operations at the world’s most visited museum, though the attraction partially opened Wednesday to allow visitors to enjoy the “Mona Lisa” and other highlights.
The museum said that visitors have started entering the building, where they had access to a limited “masterpiece route” which includes Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” and the famous Venus de Milo.
“Due to a strike, some rooms in the Louvre Museum are ... closed,” it said on social media. “We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Union workers are protesting chronic understaffing, building deterioration and recent management decisions — pressures intensified by a brazen crown jewels heist in October.
The decision came during a morning general assembly, after workers had adopted the walkout unanimously earlier this week. The museum was shuttered Tuesday for its weekly closed day.
Tensions have been further sharpened by fallout from the theft of crown jewels during a daylight robbery that exposed serious security lapses at the museum.
Culture Ministry officials held crisis talks with unions Monday and proposed to cancel a planned $6.7 million cut in 2026 funding, open new recruitment for gallery guards and visitor services and increase staff compensation. Union officials said the measures fell short.
Louvre President Laurence des Cars appeared before the Senate’s culture committee later on Wednesday as lawmakers continue probing security failures at the museum.
