A senior member of Russia’s ruling party has proposed nationalizing the factories of companies that shut down operations in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has been hit hard with sanctions, which has led a number of companies, including automakers, to stop exports to the country and a few companies to pause operations at their factories in Russia.
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“United Russia proposes nationalizing production plants of the companies that announce their exit and the closure of production in Russia during the special [military] operation in Ukraine,” said Andrei Turchak, the secretary of the general council of Russia’s ruling party, according to Reuters. “We will take tough retaliatory measures, acting in accordance with the laws of war.”
Read: The Hyundai And Kia Group Won’t Stop Exports Or Production In Russia – For Now
The Hyundai Group, one of the foreign automakers with the largest presence in Russia, paused production but claimed that the decision was made because of supply issues and said it would reopen the factory last week. The Korean company may not be subject to sanctions as a result of its government’s efforts to continue allowing companies to sell consumer goods in Russia, as it imposes other sanctions instead.
Renault, meanwhile, owns AvtoVaz, which makes Lada vehicles, the country’s most popular brand. That company said that it would be looking for a domestic supply of microchips in order to keep production running.
Shell, meanwhile, said today that it will stop buying Russian crude oil, shut down its service stations, aviation fuels, and lubrications operations in Russia and start a phased withdrawal from Russian petroleum products. That announcement came shortly before the U.S. announced it would ban the importation of Russian petroleum products to the U.S.
