Durov wrote on his VK page that he only learned of the dismissal from the press, saying, “It is interesting that the shareholders did not have enough courage to do it directly.”
Dmitry Sergeyev, VK’s executive director, said that Durov handed in his one-month notice on March 21, and his contract termination was granted in accordance with Russian law, reports RT.
Durov did “resign” on April 1, when he posted on VK that it was becoming increasingly difficult to defend the principles upon which he founded the social media site.
However, two days later he clarified that the post was an April Fools joke.
According to the Moscow Times, Durov said he rescinded the prank resignation, and that VK’s board of directors “today has *suddenly* discovered that the withdrawal of my letter of resignation on April 3 — which they had previously publicly accepted — turned out to be drawn up 'not in accordance with all the rules.’”
The social media site will now be under the control of Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and billionaire shareholder Alisher Usmanov, Durov said.
In January, Durov came under pressure from Russian security services to hand over the personal details of members of a VK group supporting the Ukrainian Euromaidan protest movement.
According to the Moscow Times, Durov refused to do so, saying that the “freedom to disseminate information is an inalienable right of a postindustrial society."
After the January incident, Durov sold a 12 percent stake in VK, prompting rumors that he would be leaving the company.
Durov also said he also faced political pressure in March, when he was asked to shut down a VK group dedicated to Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption activist and vocal Putin critic.
"Something like this was probably inevitable in Russia, but I am glad that we held on for seven and a half years," the Moscow Times said Durov posted on his VK page. "We managed to do a lot. And part of what has been accomplished can no longer be turned back."
VK was founded by Durov in 2006, reports RT, and has become Russia’s number one social network, with more than 61 million active users in Russia and more than 100 million in the world.
