14 DAY TRIAL // Ukrainian offices of Russian search engine Yandex have been raided by authorities under the accusation of "treason."
The search giant is already under scrutiny by the Ukrainian government, which even issued sanctions for the Russian company. The raids took place in two cities - Kiev and Odessa, and were conducted under the country's treason articles of the criminal code, writes TASS, Russian state news agency.
The gist of the problem seems to be allegations that the company was collecting user data on Ukrainians and sending it back to Russia. The company confirmed the raids publicly and said their lawyers would help with any investigation.
The Ukrainian Security Services say that the information that's being sent to Russia by Yandex was for use in reconnaissance and acts of sabotage. Given the existing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it's not exactly a surprise that it would extend to such actions taken against Yandex.
A war on corporate Russia
Yandex says it has some 11 million users in Ukraine and has 320 people working in the country.
Ukraine, however, has sanctioned not only Yandex but also social networks VK and Odnoklassniki, as well as security company Kaspersky Labs and email service Mail.ru.
Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, has been doing more and more to sanction Russian companies due to Russian's support for separatists in the Eastern area of the country, as well as the controversial annexation of the Crimea, which has yet to be recognized by most states across the globe.
Poroshenko has criticized Russia on many occasions, most lately for its interference in the French elections earlier this month. Although the post he made was on VK, he promised to end his own use of the Russian social network, as well as other services.