Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has indirectly hit the country’s oligarchs through sanctions, as well as the country’s top tech company Yandex, which saw its stock nosedive and whose deputy chief executive officer stepped down because of sanctions imposed by the European Union.
But the war is also affecting employees of another Russian tech giant, and one of the most well known and respected antivirus makers: Kaspersky.
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In the wake of the invasion, at least two employees told Motherboard they asked to be relocated outside of Russia. A third source who still works at the company also told Motherboard that some Kaspersky employees were asked to resign after those employees asked to live and work somewhere else. Instead of accommodating them, the company asked them to resign, as the company’s founder Eugene Kaspersky emphasized the importance of standing next to him during tough times, according to the two former employees, who did end up resigning. Kaspersky has several employees in different countries, working from one of the 35 offices in 31 countries that the company claims to have.
In a regularly scheduled all hands meeting a few days after Russia invaded Ukraine, employees asked whether the company would consider relocation requests.
Eugene Kaspersky, the founder and CEO of the company, had a simple response. According to one of the former employees who spoke to Motherboard, Kaspersky said “something along the lines of ‘If the Captain stays at the ship, the team should stay at the ship as well. No matter what the weather is.’” The second former employee confirmed that that was Eugene Kaspersky’s response during the meeting.
One of the former employees, who asked to remain anonymous as they didn’t want to face retaliation, said they know of “at least 5 other people” who faced the same situation and chose to resign. The other former employee, who also asked to remain anonymous, said they knew of another two other than themselves. A current Kaspersky employee, who spoke to Motherboard on condition of anonymity as he was not allowed to speak to the press, confirmed that the company asked employees who wanted to live and work somewhere else to resign, and some of them decided to resign.
“I was asked to resign only because I have decided to escape from Russia after Feb. 24, while I could easily continue to work remotely,” one of the former employees told Motherboard. “Why did I want to escape? That one is easy. I do not support what is happening. I feel guilty, and responsible for all this crazy murders. This war is a disaster.”
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“After Feb. 24, 2022 life has completely changed. That was the final push to drop everything there and relocate. And here, the company (personally Eugene) did not support me,” the employee said.
The employee, who left Russia before he had a final response from the company about his relocation request, said that the discussion with the company’s human resources department “was simple.”
“Either you come back or you resign,” they said the HR employee told them.
A Kaspersky spokesperson denied the two former employee’s accounts.
“This information is not true. Kaspersky’s employees are its most valuable asset, and our efforts have always been focused on ensuring a favorable working environment that encourages professional and personal growth. The company runs an internal relocation program available for all employees, including those from the Russian offices. They can apply to relocate to work from Kaspersky offices worldwide, provided there is a suitable vacancy in the region/country of their choice. These applications are reviewed based on required qualifications,” the spokesperson said in an email. “Kaspersky employees who met the country’s requirements of relocation were approved to do so.”
Kaspersky did not respond to a follow-up question about what happened to employees who did not meet the country’s “requirements of relocation.” The company also did not respond to a question about Eugene Kaspersky’s statement in an all-hands meeting about staying with the captain and the ship “no matter what the weather is,” as one source recalled.
After the invasion of Ukraine, Eugene Kaspersky said he hoped for a “compromise” between Russia and Ukraine. A company spokesperson at the time said that “as a technology and cybersecurity service provider the company is not in a position to comment or speculate on geopolitical developments outside of its area of expertise.”
Kaspersky has been mired in controversy for the last few years. A Bloomberg story in 2015 alleged that Eugene Kaspersky has personal connections with FSB and Russian government officials. In 2019, the U.S. government formally banned federal agencies and contractors for using Kaspersky’s software. In general, the company has for the last years fought the public perception that it has links with Vladimir Putin’s government, without being too successful at that.
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