Paranoia isn't the only factor in a purchasing decision. It seems quite clear to me it's a Russian company trying to hide that fact for obvious reasons. I appreciate pnw posting this and making me aware before I decided to send money (indirectly) to Russia.
Even the report mentions the team members moving to Tbilisi, Georgia. Afaik Pavel moved to Dubai and still has Ukrainian citizenship. So I doubt a significant portion of company's money ending up in Russia, maybe except salaries of a few engineers. But it's pennies compared to how much the regime is paid for the resources, if that's what you worry about.
Semantics aside, I think it's quite clear they are trying to mislead by giving the appearance of being an American company. What does their company address show on their website? Delaware.
The report mentioned that their LinkedIn profiles changed from showing Moscow to Tbilisi. I'm sure I could also change my location to Tbilisi on my LinkedIn profile. How is that a meaningful argument? I don't want any amount of my money going to the Russian economy if I can avoid it, even if it's merely pennies as you say.
I'm not sure why you assume malice intentions by default.
Using a legal entity in a more convenient country for a startup seems like a common practice, including listing the address of such entity on the website. You'd be surprised how many companies are incorporated in America, pay taxes there, but have founders/employees/contractors elsewhere around the world.
So, I personally wouldn't count it as active effort of "trying to hide" or "trying to mislead".
> The report mentioned that their LinkedIn profiles changed from showing Moscow to Tbilisi. I'm sure I could also change my location to Tbilisi on my LinkedIn profile. How is that a meaningful argument?
Again, not sure why assume malice intentions. I also updated my Linkedin location when I left Russia, is that surprising?
> Why do you care to defend them so much?
Pavel pays me 15 rubles per comment of course! (tbh not sure why I waste time on this :D)
Thanks for your condescending explanation of corporate practices. I'm sure the typical HN reader is completely ignorant to those facts. Perhaps you could also explain Russian corporate practices and ethics to us all.
Only you are saying anything about malice. Everything is easily explained by greed (or the desire to simply gain if you prefer softer language).
