Russia’s VK acquires Yclients, which continues to operate in Ukraine under the brand Altegio

The Russian holding VK has acquired YClients, according to the Russian media. The company YClients still operates in Ukraine under the brand Altegio, the services of which are used by about 500 Ukrainian companies.

• On December 20, 2023, the news was revealed that VK, which owns the FSB-controlled social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, acquired 100% of the group of companies, owners of YClients, a service for online recording and business automation in the service industry.
• The amount of the agreement is not disclosed. In the future, the integration of YClients services into VK platforms is planned.
• According to NGL.Media, the news is about the Sogaz group (“Согаз”), the largest shareholders of which are Yuriy Kovalchuk, who is part of the closest circle of the Russian president, and the Gazprom company, which is managed by Alexei Miller, who is also close to Putin, as well as Putin’s cousin Mikhail Shelomov.
• The media also identified approximately 500 Ukrainian companies that still use Altegio or Yclients services.

Why is it important?

Formally, YClients stopped its operations in Ukraine back in 2022 — shortly after the beginning of the Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, the identical Altegio service, which is positioned as a company with European roots, started its operations. It was allegedly launched by partners and former employees of the Russian company, as YClients announced the continuation of work in the Russian and Belarus markets.

All available data indicates that Altegio is simply a new brand of the Russian company for Western markets. Therefore, Ukrainian businesses continue to use services from a Russian company that has close relations with Russian intelligence services.