The hard measures announced by the European Union are forcing an exodus from Western companies in Russia. Only two days after Brussels raised the bar of his punishment on the Russian economy and that the Kremlin has responded recruiting his military offensive against Ukraine, the list of Western companies that break relationships with Moscow grows and covers more and more sectors. In some cases for the cost for its corporate image, in others by the growing difficulties in doing business or guaranteeing their transactions, ads that report on the rupture of large Western corporations with Russia accumulate.
The response of the Kremilin has been announced an arrangement of up to a trillion rubles (8,906 million euros), to buy actions of Russian business affected by Western sanctions.
The document was signed by the Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, last Saturday. Mishutsin announced yesterday in a televised message the preparation of a decree to curb the output of foreign investments. "A draft presidential decree has been prepared to introduce temporary restrictions on the exit (of foreign investors) of Russian assets", to "allow companies to make lucid decisions" and not under "political pressure".
The British oil company BP announced on Sunday that it will sell its participation of 19.75% in the Russian Rosneft State, which he maintained since 2013 and is valued at about 14,000 million dollars. In addition, BP Executive President Bernard Looney will leave his position on the Board of Directors of the Russian oil tanker "immediate".
For his part, Shell, yesterday he denounced the invasion of Ukraine as an "act of meaningless military aggression" of Russia. The British oil company breaks its alliance with the Gazprom Russian giant, including the development of infrastructures for Sakhalin-II liquefied natural gas, its participation in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and 50% societies in Salym and Gydan oil projects, in Siberia .
Equinor, the Norwegian energy company and one of the pioneers at the western entrance in Russia after the fall of the USSR, qualifies its "unsustainable" position, so it will break its alliance with Rosneft. The Norwegian Government has ahead that it will sell as much as greater than 2,700 million euros.
Tottalenergies, of French nationality, announced yesterday that it freezes its investments but did not formalize a withdrawal. The Minister of Finance, Bruno Le Maire, said he will discuss with the company to make a decision "in the coming days".
Damiler Trucks, one of the largest truck manufacturers in the world, will stop producing in Russia, where he shares factories with the local Kamaz group. It does so until new notice in rejection of military violence and after the sanctions imposed by the EU.
Renault, who had made Russia his second market in Europe, has also paralyzed his plants in Russia, as Volkswagen has done. Volvo, for its part, will not send more vehicles to the country and General Motors, Jaguar, Porsche and Land Rover will do the same.
The aeronautical sector, already very touched by two years of global pandemic that left most of its fleets on land, the rupture of operations has been given by the European closure of airspace to any plane with Russian or Russian-owned flag . Lufthansa, Airfrance-KLM and IAG, for example, do not offer Flights AA Russia. Moscow's response has been reciprocal, so, by conviction or force, there is no way to operate with the country.
The Danish Maersk and the MSC Switzerland yesterday announced the temporary cancellation of all the transport of maritime containers A and from Russia, except food and medicines, due to the war in Ukraine, as the Singaporense Ocean Network Express and the German Hapag Lloyd already did.
The partial suspension of financial communications through the SWIFT messaging system has triggered MasterCard and Visa blocked Russian banks in their network of payments. For the banking sector, the reaction before the blocking measures is more complex than in industrial activities. The most exposed entities such as the Italian Unicredit, or the German Deutsche Bank have frozen their activities in the country.
Digital platforms, which if for something are characterized is not to take a party in any kind of national conflict, have collided with Russia by taking measures that restrict the information activity of the Kremlin. Thus, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have blocked the accounts of Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik in the European Union on demand from institutions. Twitter has taken similar action and the Russian response has been to restrict the use of foreign social networks in the country. Vkontakte, Russian Facebook, dominates 22.29% of the merchant. Facebook, has 16.67% and YouTube has 14.99% presence.
Date Of Update: 02 March 2022, 01:48
