Several more major tech companies and retailers have shut down their operations in Russia as the ‘Great Cancellation’ of Vladimir Putin continues after the invasion of Ukraine.
Samsung Electronics has become the latest high profile firm to suspended shipments to Russia over ‘geopolitical developments’, the firm said today.
The South Korean tech giant is the world’s biggest memory chip maker and the leading smartphone seller in Russia.
‘Due to current geopolitical developments, shipments to Russia have been suspended,’ Samsung said in a statement. ‘We continue to actively monitor this complex situation to determine our next steps.’
Spanish clothing giant Inditex, which owns high street brand Zara and sports company Puma have both announced they will shutter their stores in Russia.
Puma said it will ‘continue to pay the full salary of our employees’ at ‘more than 100’ retail locations across the country, a spokeswoman said.
It comes after payment giant PayPal cited ‘the current circumstances’ as the reason for its own withdrawal from Russia, joining dozens of other financial and tech companies in hastily abandoning the country.
‘Under the current circumstances, we are suspending PayPal services in Russia,’ PayPal’s president chief executive Dan Schulman said in a statement.
He added that the company ‘stands with the international community in condemning Russia’s violent military aggression in Ukraine.’
In total more than £100 billion of trade ties have already been severed with the increasingly isolated nation, with no sign the ever-largening embargo is set to lose momentum.
High profile Russians, including Putin himself and his inner circle, have been subject to personal financial sanctions across much of Europe and the United States.
But everyday citizens are now feeling the pinch too, with multinational firms abandoning the increasing isolated national and the Russian rouble slumps to record lows against the dollar.
![PayPal has become the latest high profile firm to suspend its operation in Russia as the 'Great Cancellation' of Vladimir Putin continues after the invasion of Ukraine. [File image]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/03/05/08/54977645-10580361-image-a-3_1646467591243.jpg)
PayPal has become the latest high profile firm to suspend its operation in Russia as the ‘Great Cancellation’ of Vladimir Putin continues after the invasion of Ukraine. [File image]
In total more than £100 billion of trade ties have already been severed with the increasingly isolated nation, with no sign the ever-largening embargo is set to lose momentum
PayPal’s president chief executive Dan Schulman (above) said the company ‘stands with the international community in condemning Russia’s violent military aggression in Ukraine’
A company spokesperson said PayPal will support withdrawals ‘for a period of time, ensuring that account balances are dispersed in line with applicable laws and regulations.’
PayPal, which had only allowed cross-border transactions by users in Russia, stopped accepting new users in the country on Wednesday.
Ukrainian government officials had been calling on PayPal to quit Russia and help them with fundraising.
PayPal said on Friday that ‘since the beginning of the invasion, PayPal has helped raise over £113million ($150 million) for charities supporting response efforts in Ukraine, one of the largest efforts we’ve seen in such a short period of time.
It comes as big tech firms YouTube and Facebook banned Russian state-owned media outlets RT and Sputnik from sharing its content across Europe.
High profile Russians, including Vladimir Putin himself and his inner circle, have been subject to personal financial sanctions across much of Europe and the United States
YouTube and Facebook have banned Russian state-owned media outlets RT and Sputnik’s channels across Europe (pictured on Tuesday)
PayPal’s suspension in Russia also applies to its money transfer tool Xoom. Rivals Wise and Remitly earlier suspended some services in Russia.
On Tuesday, YouTube and Facebook banned Russian state-owned media outlets RT and Sputnik’s channels across Europe.
It is the latest in a big-tech clampdown on Moscow’s propaganda finally imposed this week following the Russian invasion of Ukraine last Thursday.
Swedish homeware giant IKEA announced it would become one of the latest companies to announce a suspension of operations in Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.
Pictures emerging from IKEA warehouses across the country show a sea of shoppers desperately trying to grab products before the shutters slammed down.
Pictures emerging from IKEA warehouses in Russia show a sea of shoppers desperately trying to grab products before the shutters were slammed down indefinitely (St Petersburg outlet pictured)
‘The war has had a huge human impact already,’ IKEA said in a statement. ‘It is also resulting in serious disruptions to supply chain and trading conditions.
‘For all of these reasons, IKEA has decided to temporarily pause operations in Russia.’
‘The devastating war in Ukraine is a human tragedy, and our deepest empathy and concerns are with the millions of people impacted,’ said the company.
‘These decisions have a direct impact on 15,000 IKEA co-workers, and the company groups will secure employment and income stability and provide support to them and their families in the region.’
IKEA arrived in Russia in 2000, nine years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and has grown to be one of the largest Western employers in the nation.
British and international companies have continued to remove their products from Russia as the world protests the country’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, with the country already losing £100 billion of trade.
Meanwhile, fashion brands BooHoo, H&M and Burberry, and music streaming site Spotify are among some of the other big name brands to reduce their ties with the nation.
The backlash has also hit sport, with rows breaking out in football, athletics and Formula 1.
Growing numbers of British businesses have moved to stop buying Russian exports to the UK – and stopped trading in Russia – despite Kremlin threats that ‘economic wars often become real ones’.
Russians looking to forget the crisis at the cinema will also be disappointed, as Warner Bros pulled ‘The Batman’, Sony ‘Morbius’ and Disney its children’s animation ‘Turning Red’.
