Vkontakte moves closer to Kremlin with prospective hire

The Russian government’s influence over Vkontakte (officially called VK), Russia’s equivalent of Facebook, could soon be strengthened following the revelation that the social media network may be headed by Boris Dobrodeyev, whose father runs the country’s largest state-run media corporation.

Internet giant Mail.Ru Group, which owns a majority share in Vkontakte, has nominated Dobrodeyev for the position of chief executive officer, following the messy departure of the company’s founder, Pavel Durov, earlier this year. Durov fled Russia in April after he was fired as head of Vkontakte, first to St Kitts where he purchased citizenship in the island nation, and then to the US where he has since been living in self-imposed exile.

Dobrodeyev was on the board of directors of Mail.ru before joining Vkontakte as acting CEO in January. His father, Oleg Dobrodeyev, is the current head of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, which oversees five national television channels and more than 80 regional television and radio networks. The nomination still needs to be confirmed by Vkontakte’s other shareholder, the investment company United Capital Partners.

Source: The Moscow Times