MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. Arkady Volozh, executive director and member of the board of directors of the Yandex Group of companies, who was included in the list of the sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia, has stepped down from his positions, the company said in a press release on Friday.

"Yandex N.V., a Dutch public limited company and one of Europe’s largest internet businesses, today announces that Arkady Volozh, the company’s co-founder, has stepped down with immediate effect from his positions as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Yandex N.V. and from his board and executive positions with its international subsidiaries," the company says.

The company noted that the restrictive measures introduced against Volozh do not apply either to the parent company of Yandex, Yandex N.V., or to its subsidiaries, since he is not a controlling shareholder. Yandex is also confident that this situation will not affect its operations, financial condition and interaction with partners. After the introduction of personal sanctions against Volozh, the Board of Directors of the group of companies continues to function as usual.

"Mr. Volozh is the settlor of a trust for the benefit of his family, which holds Class B shares representing a 45.3% voting and 8.6% economic interest in Yandex N.V. He is not a controlling shareholder of Yandex, and consequently these sanctions do not apply to Yandex N.V. or its subsidiaries," the company said.

"Mr. Volozh has decided and informed the Board that he will not instruct the trustee as to how to vote such shares going forward. Pursuant to the terms of the trust, the trustee will vote such shares on all matters proposed to the shareholders in accordance with the recommendations of the independent Board of Directors," Yandex noted.

On Friday, the price of Yandex shares fell to the lowest level since April 2017 in the course of trading on the Moscow Exchange following the reports about the inclusion of Volozh in the sanctions list.

In total, the European Union added 18 legal entities and 65 individuals from Russia to its black list. The relevant regulations were published on Friday in the Official Journal of the EU. As for legal entities, the list includes, in particular, JSC Oboronenergo, Voentelecom, Voentorg, Kamaz, Tatneft-Neftekhim, and Remdizel.