Yandex to expand office in Armenia

YEREVAN, March 7. /ARKA/. Russia’s largest technology company Yandex is planning to expand its office in Armenia, Yandex New Products Director and Yandex Hub curator in Armenia Dmitry Stepanov said last Sunday, while speaking at an economic forum hosted by the Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan.

"Back in March 2022 we rented a big office in Yerevan on 3.5 thousand square meters and now we are thinking about expanding, because it cannot accommodate all our employees anymore," said.

Stepanov noted that many Yandex employees moved from Russia to Armenia last year and although some returned back to Russia, some others moved to other countries, but still many have chosen to stay in Armenia and began to "grow into" the local environment.

In a conversation with ARKA news agency, Stepanov said the expansion is prompted by the growing number of employees and because many prefer to work from the office rather than remotely.

"Besides, Yandex’s local business is growing: we have launched Yandex.Food, other smaller services, so it's organic growth," Stepanov said.

He stressed that Yandex plans to support all those people who ended up in Armenia of their own free will.

"We help our employees in dealing with getting necessary documents, with other issues. The better we support them, the more likely these people will stay here, their children will go to local schools and at least by the end of next year they won't go anywhere," Stepanov said.

Speaking of future plans, he said the company wants to start cooperation with local schools in Yerevan, at the initial stage, with private schools.

"We support, including financially, only one school so far, and in the future, hopefully, there will be others, which will create separate classes for the children of our employees," he informed. -0-