Russian search engine company Yandex has sold two of its media properties to rival, VK, in a bid to remain politically neutral.

The properties it sold includes its News and Zen platforms which aggregate news and recommend blog pieces, respectively. This sale also means that the company’s homepage, Yandex.ru, would now be under VK’s control.

Now, the company is trying to direct users to an alternative homepage, ya.ru, which it has owned for some years.

Yandex had tried to remain neutral while the Russian state continued to wax its grip on local media but the Ukraine invasion meant that it had to bend or break.

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With the power that its News and Zen properties held, the government had to be in charge of what many Russians see or face the risk of competing with a ‘different narrative’.

In a press release, Yandex said that the deal marked its exit from the media business (except for entertainment streaming) and choosing to focus on other services like search, advertising, online-to-offline transactional businesses and b2b technology businesses.

Additionally, as it sells its assets to VK, which is linked to the Kremlin, Yandex also gets to buy the company’s food delivery service, Delivery Club.

The search giant has managed to avoid an outright ban in the EU despite facing criticism for amplifying state propaganda. However, cutting off the media arms may save its foreign business as it embraces new services locally.

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