That comes from where? The repercussions could have been very severe. The Russian government easily takes over and seizes control over "rogue companies". Russia is not a free country, my friend.

Basically even today after war has began and tens of thousands were killed on both sides some of people working there still hold the illusion that they could continue to live in their bubble and continue to innovate in Russia like nothing happen. So no, they are not some poor IT company opressed by the government. Every employee who wanted to immigrate was able to move abroad.

6-10 years ago Yandex can certainly shut down their news service without being seized. Back in 2008-2012 one of Yandex co-founders and ex-CTO Ilya Segalovich was often visitor of street protests almost until his death in 2013 and this did not caused company to be seized.