Founder and CEO of ‘Russian Facebook’ has been fired

Co-founder and CEO of Vkontakte Pavel Durov, the Russian equivalent of Facebook, has been removed from his position with immediate effect. According to the ex-top man, the site is therefore now under the control of two people who have close ties to the Kremlin.

That says the ex-ceo on his own Vkontakte page. Durov previously announced that he would resign, but withdrew that statement shortly afterwards. According to a statement from Vkontakte, Durov has never formally withdrawn his previous request to resign. That is why, a month later, he has been automatically removed from his position.

According to Durov, he had to learn from the media that he was still fired. He calls the decision ‘shady’ and suggests that the formal decision is an excuse to work him out. According to Durov, after his resignation, Vkontakte is wholly owned by Igor Sechin and Alisher Usmanov, who are both major shareholders and maintain close ties with the Russian government. Durov previously sold his shares in the website.

Durov stated that his earlier decision to resign was due to the Kremlin’s increased influence over Vkontakte. Requests are coming in to close the pages of opponents of the Russian government, while Durov is fighting for freedom of expression. Reports have also surfaced recently that the Kremlin is using the social networking site to spy on Ukrainians; the site is used in neighboring countries as well as in Russia.