# Arkady Volozh Kazakhstan-born technology entrepreneur; co-founder of [[Yandex]] in 1997 and, since the 2024 split, CEO of [[Nebius]] Group N.V. (Nasdaq: NBIS). ## The sanctions arc - **2022** — the EU sanctioned Volozh after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, citing his role at Yandex. He stepped back from his positions in the group. - **August 2023** — he publicly condemned the invasion, a statement that drew retaliation in Russia and was treated in Europe as the basis for reconsidering his designation. - **March 2024** — the **EU lifted the sanctions**. - **July–October 2024** — the Yandex split completes; Volozh returns as CEO of the renamed [[Nebius]]; Nasdaq trading resumes. - Subsequently — he **renounced his Russian citizenship**, severing the last formal legal tie. ## Why he is in this KB On **2026-09-08** Volozh appeared, quoted alongside [[Alex Karp]], on the release naming Nebius as [[Palantir]]'s **preferred sovereign AI infrastructure partner** — see [[Palantir-Nebius Sovereign AI Partnership]]. The founder of Russia's dominant search company is now supplying the compute layer beneath a product Palantir sells to Western governments and regulated industries as *sovereign*. ⚠️ **Read the arc before reading the adjacency.** Volozh was sanctioned, condemned the war, was de-listed by the EU, and gave up his Russian citizenship. Nothing in the public record supports treating him as a Russian state proxy, and this page should not be extended in that direction. What it records is that a specific word — "sovereign" — is being sold by one company and supplied by another whose founder's biography runs straight through the state the word is usually invoked against. That is an irony worth documenting and a fact pattern worth watching; it is not a finding of compromise. > [!note] Stub > Minimum-viable page created 2026-09-27 alongside [[Nebius]] and [[Yandex]]. Expand with the pre-2022 Yandex governance structure, the specifics of the EU listing and de-listing, and his current shareholding.