LONDON (Bywire News) - A growing number of private firms are cutting ties with Russia as the invasion of Ukraine grows more violent and Western nations impose economic sanctions.
The first changes occurred when the governing European sports body UEFA moved the Champions League final from Russia to Paris and in turn, the European Broadcasting Union barred Russia from taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Airbus
Airbus announced on Wednesday that it will cease supplying spare components in Russia and also cease its support for Russian airlines. The decision to end connections with Russia is in line with Boeing's announcement from earlier in the day, but unlike Airbus, which is a U.S. rival, Airbus announced it was looking into the possibility that its Moscow engineering facility would need to be shut down due to the current sanctions.
"In line with international sanctions now in place, Airbus has suspended support services to Russian airlines, as well as the supply of spare parts to the country," Airbus said in the statement.
Boeing
Boeing made an announcement late Tuesday night that it had suspended parts maintenance, and technical support for Russian airlines, and also halted all activities in Moscow.
"As the conflict continues, our teams are focused on ensuring the safety of our teammates in the region," a Boeing spokesperson said. Within Moscow, Boeing has a research and development centre for technical research as well as the biggest engineering centre for computer-aided aircraft design outside of the United States, according to .
ExxonMobil
U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil declared that it will be leaving an important gas and oil pipeline within Russia and will stop investing in the country in the wake of similar decisions taken by the other Western majors in the oil industry BP, Shell and Equinor.
Exxon announced that it would be "discontinuing operations" at the Sakhalin-1 Project one of the largest foreign-operated fields of oil and gas located in Russia. They will also halt any further investments in a possible $9 billion LNG export facility.
Apple
Apple declared on Tuesday that it would suspend all sales of its products in Russia after halting all exports to the country this week. Apple Pay will be limited in Russia, as well. RT News and Sputnik News are not available through the app store of the company outside of Russia. The company has also blocked live and traffic events on Apple Maps in Ukraine in what they describe as an effort to ensure safety and security for Ukrainians.
Ford
The American automaker announced on Tuesday that it would cease operations in Russia starting immediately and up to a date that is not announced. The company claimed that it has "significantly wound down" its Russian operations over the past few years which, up until now, mostly comprised a minority share within Sollers Ford.
"While we don't have significant operations in Ukraine, we do have a strong contingent of Ukrainian nationals working at Ford around the world and we will continue to support them through this time," Ford stated.
Maersk
Danish shipping company Maersk announced on Tuesday that it will not accept any orders for new, non-essential orders in and out of Russia due to the sanctions in place over the Ukraine invasion. "Bookings to and from Russia will be temporarily suspended, with exception of foodstuffs, medical, and humanitarian supplies," Maersk announced in a statement to AFP and added that it would attempt to honour any bookings made prior to sanctions.
Shell
Shell is on the list of oil and gas firms quitting their stakes within Russia. The energy giant from the Anglo-Dutch region has announced that it is leaving the joint partnerships that it had with Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom and other entities. These have a value of around $3 billion.
Mastercard and Visa
MasterCard along with Visa have each blocked certain Russian activities on their payment systems on Tuesday in order to comply with international sanctions.
Mastercard issued the same statement late on Monday that "as a result of sanctions, we have removed several financial institutions from using the Mastercard payments network. It is our intention to cooperate with regulators over the coming days ahead, and will abide by our obligations to comply in the future as they change."
Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover has stopped the supply of cars to Russia because of "trading challenges," the company said in a statement. It was referring to the sanctions imposed against Russia.
Jaguar Land Rover joins Volvo in severing the sale of its cars to Russia.
Meta
Facebook Meta, the parent company of Facebook banned Russian State news media from running advertisements or making money from its platform globally on Friday.
In retaliation, Moscow said it would restrict some of the access of its citizens to Facebook in response to accusations that Facebook is "censoring" Russian media.
One day after Meta's advertising ban was put in place, Google, owned by Alphabet did the same thing, preventing the state-owned Russian media outlet RT as well as others from receiving any money to display ads on their apps, websites and YouTube videos. Google also prohibited Russian public media organizations from using the company's advertising technology to earn revenue from their own apps and websites.
BP
BP has announced on Wednesday that it will be selling its 19.75% shares of Russian state-owned energy company Rosneft the move could lead to the British energy company suffering a $25 billion loss.
In a letter addressed to employees this Sunday, BP CEO Bernard Looney said that the company was planning to end any associated activities in Russia in conjunction with Rosneft and also that he and former Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley would both immediately retire from Rosneft's board of directors.
Equinor
Norwegian energy producer Equinor announced on Monday that it will end its joint ventures with Russia and cease all new investments in Russia. Equinor has a relationship with Rosneft that covers projects throughout Siberia.
Anders Opedal, Equinor's CEO said the company's position in the current crisis is "untenable," and Equinor chair Helge Lund has described Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an "act of aggression, which is having tragic consequences across the region."
Equinor is owned by two-thirds of Norway's government.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund
Norway's premier minister announced on Sunday that the nation's $1.3 trillion fund of sovereign wealth, which is the most extensive in the world has decided to divest its Russian investments. "We have decided to freeze the fund's investments and have begun a process of selling out," Prime Secretary Jonas Gahr Store said at the news conference.
The fund holds shares in approximately 47 Russian firms and bonds issued by the government and bonds, totally valued at $25 billion Norwegian kroner ($2.83 billion) by the end of 2021. The amount of these investments fell from 30 billion kroner one year ago according to the government.
Daimler
Daimler Truck, the largest truck maker in the world, announced on Monday that it will "immediately suspend all our business activities in Russia," including an agreement with local truck manufacturer Kamaz to build civilian vehicles.
Daimler Truck's decision to leave Russia will not affect its earnings, since Kamaz only sells some 2,000 vehicles in Russia every year, which sends an important message. Kamaz produces the vehicles needed by Russia's army forces.
FIFA and UEFA
The two biggest soccer bodies, FIFA and UEFA, have joined forces to remove Russian soccer clubs from participating in international tournaments. This means that the Russian football team is not able to participate in a qualifying tournament for this year's World Cup. "FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice," the two associations of football released in the joint statement.
(Writing by David Argyle, editing by Klaudia Fior)