Rishi Sunak urges UK companies to stop investing in Russia

theguardian.com:

Rishi Sunak has called on UK firms to stop investing in Russia, as he welcomed the decisions made by some companies, such as the energy firms BP and Shell, along with the investment firms Aviva, M&G and Vanguard, to divest away from Russian assets.

Those companies, among others, have announced their intention to reduce or sell investments in Russia in recent days after its invasion of Ukraine, and the chancellor urged more UK businesses to consider joining them.

Sunak said: “I welcome commitments already made by a number of firms to divest from Russian assets – and I want to make it crystal clear that the government supports further signals of intent.

“I am urging firms to think very carefully about their investments in Russia and how they may aid the Putin regime – and I am also clear that there is no case for new investment in Russia. We must collectively go further in our mission to inflict maximum economic pain – and to stop further bloodshed.”

Sunak and the economic secretary, John Glen, met fund managers and other leading figures in finance last week to discuss UK investment in Russia and welcomed the consensus among firms on the need to economically isolate Putin and his regime.

This has led to big writedowns of Russian assets, with BP’s decision to sell its 20% stake in the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft costing it up to $25bn (£19.1bn).

New York-based BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset management firm, with