The European Union has lifted sanctions on Russian technology tycoons, in an unprecedented break from its policy of punishing Ukraine's elites for its invasion.
Arkady Volosh, co-founder of Russia's largest tech company Yandex, was removed from the sanctions list after condemning the invasion of Ukraine and taking public steps to sever ties with Russia. The decision was announced in a document published by the European Council on Wednesday.
Volosh is one of the most prominent Russian figures to have sanctions lifted by major Western powers since the start of the war. The move has been welcomed by some in the Russian opposition, who have called on Western countries to use incentives as well as penalties to pressure the Kremlin.
“There is finally some logic in the actions of Western countries,” Abbas Galyamov, a former Kremlin speechwriter turned political consultant, wrote on the messaging app Telegram. “If you oppose the war, sanctions will be lifted,” he added.
The European Union added Mr. Volosh and one of his agents to a sanctions list in the early weeks of the war for promoting Kremlin propaganda on the Yandex news aggregation service. Yandex, commonly known as Russia's Google, said it had no choice but to comply with Russia's strict censorship laws. The news service was sold shortly thereafter.
Mr. Volosh, who is based in Israel, resigned from Yandex in the face of sanctions. He also stopped traveling to Russia and last year strongly condemned the war.
“Russia's invasion of Ukraine is barbaric and I firmly oppose it,” Volosh said in a statement in August.
Last month, Yandex's parent company, in which Volosh holds an 8% stake, signed a deal worth about $5 billion to sell all of its assets in Russia, including the popular browser and ride-hailing app. The sale was approved by Yandex shareholders last week.
A spokesman for Mr. Volosh did not immediately comment on the EU's decision.
Hundreds of Russian businessmen, politicians and officials have been subject to Western sanctions since the invasion, part of the Kremlin's strategy to defray the political costs of continuing the war.
But some Kremlin opponents say the West could increase the chances of turning Russia's elites against President Vladimir V. Putin by combining bailouts and punishments for those who publicly denounce the war. He said he could.
It was rare to feel such relief. Britain lifted sanctions on outspoken Russian banker Oleg Tinkov last year after he denounced the war and renounced his Russian citizenship. He said he had paid a domestic price for his criticism, saying the government threatened to take over the bank he founded and forced him to sell shares at what he called a “fire sale” price.
Last year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov called businessmen who spoke out against the war and called for sanctions relief “traitors.”
Sanctions relief is also controversial among some of Mr. Putin's opponents, who believe that few people in Russia can achieve wealth and power without forging close ties to the government.
Last year, Leonid Volkov, a prominent Russian opposition leader, announced his leadership after a leaked letter showed he had lobbied the European Union for sanctions against Russian oligarchs to be lifted. He resigned from the anti-corruption organization.
Volkov, who was a senior aide to opposition leader Alexei A. Navalny, said in a series of social media posts announcing his resignation that sanctions relief “could trigger a chain reaction of public condemnation of the state.” It is a mistake to think that there is. The war and the division of the Russian elite. ”
