‘Russian Zuckerberg’ quits homeland with parting shot

MOSCOW, Apr 27 (AFP):  Imagine if Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg suddenly announced he was resigning, only to reveal days later it was only a joke. And then was forced out a month later after all.

And imagine if Zuckerberg claimed the White House took control of the social network before fleeing his homeland, saying it was impossible to do business there and he had no plan to ever return.

It seems incredible but this is exactly the surreal scenario played out at Russia's biggest social network VKontakte (VK) which far outstrips Facebook in terms of popularity and influence in the former Soviet Union, with 60 million users in Russia and 100 million in the ex-USSR.

The extraordinary saga at VK would make the 2010 hit movie about Zuckerberg and Facebook, "The Social Network," look almost tame by comparison.

VK was founded in 2006 by philosophy student Pavel Durov, now 29, shortly after he graduated from Saint Petersburg University and his meteoric rise almost mirrored that of Zuckerberg, also 29.

By early 2007, it already had one million users and the network and Durov became symbols of the explosive changes brought by the late, but swift, spread of Internet use in Russia.