CEO of Russia’s largest social network resigns after increasing state influence

The founder and director of VKontakte, Russia’s largest social network, has resigned because he says he can no longer maintain the site’s original principles. The departure follows increased Kremlin influence on the site.

The CEO, Pavel Durov, says in his farewell message that it has become increasingly difficult to lead the social network. VKontakte has 228 million users and is especially popular in Russia and surrounding countries. The site has in the past shown its support for free speech and a critical stance against the government.

In April, however, two co-founders sold their joint 48 percent stake to United Capital Partners, which GigaOm says is headed by someone close to Russian President Putin. Durov himself sold his 12 percent share in January to the CEO of Russian telco Megafon, who sold the share to Mail.ru in March, which saw its stake in VKontakte increase to 52 percent.

Behind both Megafon and Mail.ru is said to be another Putin-promoting businessman: Alisher Usmanov. Mail.ru also has majority stakes in two other major Russian social networks: Odnoklassniki and Moi Mir. According to Techcrunch, the last straw for Durov was that VKontakte had to close pages about opposition leaders in Ukraine and hand over data on insurgents.

Durov is also involved in the Telegram messaging app. United Capital Partners claimed last year that Durov paid too little attention to VKontakte as a result.