Boycott of Russia and Belarus

In 2022, a boycott of Russia and Belarus was implemented by many companies and organisations in Europe, North America, Australasia and elsewhere after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The companies involved have withdrawn from Russia, or divested themselves from Russian ties, either as a result of sanctions or in protest of Russian actions.

Overview

The majority of countries which sanctioned Russia following its 2014 annexation of Crimea began imposing additional sanctions to punish Russia for invading all of Ukraine — a move for which Russian President Vladimir Putin had long prepared. Supporters in the West, for instance two thirds of Americans who are in favor of the sanctions, were joined by a wide range of companies which decided to pull out of Russia. Ukrainian institutions have stated that the need for these measures is urgent.

The response can be broadly divided into a "cultural boycott", aimed at amplifying the international condemnation of the invasion, and an "economic boycott", which is designed to make the war effort less sustainable. As a result of the latter, several commentators have warned of an unprecedented economic collapse in Russia's future, citing a 30% drop in the rouble's value, a 20% rise in interest rates and a 1% GDP expansion down from 1.7%. Analyses by multiple firms project year end GDP contraction of at least 5% and inflation of 15%. Some of the most critical blows to Russian infrastructure have been the loss of access to the SWIFT payment system and limitations on Russia's ability to export oil. US Senator Bernie Sanders has stated that this crisis should influence energy policy more broadly in order to deter "authoritarian petrostates". While Shell plc has been noted for relinquishing its stake in Gazprom, it was also criticized for buying a cargo of discounted Russian crude oil. The next day, following public outcry, Shell defended the purchase as a short term necessity, but also announced that it intends to reduce such purchases and put the profits from them into a fund that will go towards humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Some of the largest snack and fast food companies have faced criticism for continuing to do business in Russia and Belarus. Anthony Pompliano has defended cryptocurrency trading platforms for not participating in the boycott, stating "there is an incredible amount of inhumanity that goes into the decision to cut off the average citizen from the global financial system. What was their crime?" Critics of the Israeli government have pointed out the fact that several American politicians who support isolating Russia economically previously campaigned for and passed anti-BDS laws.

The cultural side of the boycott has focused on reducing the number of entertainment products available to people in Russia. These include films and albums but also live televised events which are hosted in Western countries. Yasmeen Serhan has commented that nationalistic sentiment, which has historically benefited Putin's regime, will be undermined by Russia's exclusion from sporting events. The banning of Russia and Belarus from the Olympics has drawn comparisons to the athletic boycott of apartheid South Africa. According to Olympic historians David Wallechinsky and Bill Mallon, the decision can be considered a turning point when compared to past leniency over the state-sponsored doping program in Russia or the attempted abduction of Krystsina Tsimanouskaya by Belarus. In addition to cancelling planned appearances in Russia, several entertainment organizations with Russian members began to scrutinize their past statements related to Putin. Some of these celebrities refused to condemn the war but others lost their contracts because they did so without mentioning Putin by name. A statement by Alex Ovechkin, for example, called for peace and mentioned that his family members in Russia were also in danger.

Critics of the boycott and sanctions have predicted that Putin is unlikely to be swayed by either. Patrick Cockburn argued that sanctions similar to those used against Iraq will cause widespread poverty and claim more lives than the use of military force. Others have supported the cultural boycott but called for economic coercion to be narrowly targeted. These critiques have called attention to the large number of Russian citizens who oppose the invasion while still experiencing the same collective punishment — only 14% of Russians considered Ukraine to be the aggressor while 45% supported Putin's recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk. Activists in Russia believe that amid lost access to financial and educational institutions, Putin will be better able to paint Western countries as the enemy. Regarding the cultural boycott, Patrick West wrote that many parts had become a vehicle for Russophobia including an incident in which the University of Milano-Bicocca briefly considered cancelling a course on Dostoyevski.

Boycotting companies and organizations

Banking and finance

Banks

• The World Bank announced that it had stopped all activities in Russia and Belarus as of 2 March. It stated that it had not approved any new loans or investments to Russia since 2014 and Belarus since mid-2020.

Payment processors

• Credit card companies Mastercard, Visa and American Express blocked transactions linked to multiple Russian institutions on 1 March. Russia makes up about 4% of Mastercard's and Visa's net revenue for 2021, while American Express states that its business in Russia is "small".
• Online payments company PayPal stopped accepting new users in Russia and blocked transactions by some users and banks in Russia as of 2 March. On 5 March it shut down its services in Russia.
• Google Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay no longer work in Russia due to sanctions against numerous Russian banks. As of 2020, 29% of Russians were using Google Pay and 20% were using Apple Pay.

Pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and endowment investments

• New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on 27 February, directing all New York State agencies and authorities to review and divest public funds from Russia. On 2 March, the state's Department of Financial Services expedited the procurement of blockchain analytics technology, allowing it to detect exposure of virtual currency businesses to sanctioned individuals.
• On 28 February, Australia's Future Fund announced that it would dump all Russian assets, worth A$200m, while the New South Wales government would dump A$75m of Russian assets from its NSW Generations Fund.
• The Australian Government called on superannuation companies to dump all of its Russian assets. The first superannuation companies to dump its assets were Aware Super dumped A$50m in Russian assets on 1 March while Australian Retirement Trust dumped A$133m in Russian assets on 3 March. As a result of further pressure from the government, Colonial First State confirmed on 3 March that it would divest its Russian exposure which made up 0.1% of its total funds, AustralianSuper announced on 4 March that it would dump its A$175m portfolio of Russian assets as quickly as possible, Hostplus confirmed it would offload its A$10m in Russian assets, while HESTA, Cbus and UniSuper announced it was removing all of its holdings in Russian assets.
• Norway's Government Pension Fund of Norway announced that it will divest its Russian assets from 47 companies, including Sberbank, Gazprom and Lukoil, worth 25 billion crowns in 2021. However, it announced that its value is likely worth only 2.5 billion crowns and they were "pretty much written off".
• Investment companies Legal & General, Abrdn, and National Employment Savings Trust sold all their Russian stocks and bonds.
• The Church of England announced on 25 February that it will sell £20m in Russian holdings held by its Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board. The church also said it would not make any further investments in Russia, calling it an "immoral flood of corrupt money".
• The University of Colorado announced on 3 March that it would liquidate its investment in publicly traded Russian companies and mutual funds with holdings in Russia, around US$6.1m.

Trading

• Commodities trading company Trafigura froze all Russian investments, including its share in Rosneft led project Vostok Oil on 2 March.
• Commodities trading company Gunvor announced that it had already sold all of its Russian assets but would review its minority, non-controlling stake in Ust-Luga Oil Products terminal.

Education, research and science

Education programs

• All edX courses offered by Russian Universities – ITMO University, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, National University of Science and Technology MISiS, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia and Ural Federal University were removed from its website on 4 March.
• Middlebury College suspended its Russian exchange program, allowing students to complete the course remotely. The Council on International Educational Exchange suspended its spring 2022 program in Saint Petersburg, relocating students to other universities in Eastern Europe.

Research

• The German Research Foundation suspended all scientific collaboration with Russia on 2 March, including the sharing of data, samples, research and equipment. Researchers applying for a fellowship in Russia will have to choose another country.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ended its relationship with the Skolkovo Foundation on 25 February, affecting 21 MIT faculty members and 38 students.
• The UK science minister announced a review of all research funding from the UK government to Russian beneficiaries.
• The European Commission suspended all payments to Russian institutions involved in EU-funded research projects on 2 March. It also suspended the preparation of grant agreements for four projects under Horizon Europe.
• The Journal of Molecular Structure stopped considering manuscripts submitted by scientists at Russian institutions.

Science projects

• The International Mathematical Union moved the 2022 International Congress of Mathematicians and awarding of the Fields Medal online; it was originally scheduled to be held in Saint Petersburg.
• All countries, except Russia, announced they will temporarily pause their participation in the Arctic Council since Russia holds the chairmanship.
• Space agency NASA explored ways to keep the International Space Station in orbit without Russia. It noted that Northrop Grumman had offered reboost capability and suggested that SpaceX could help.
• The European Space Agency delayed ExoMars, a joint Europe-Russian mission to send a rover to Mars. Russia was set to provide the Kazachok lander and the mission was intended to launch on a Russian Proton rocket.
• Satellite company OneWeb suspended all launches from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome and reviewed all projects involving Russian collaboration. This came after Russian Director of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, demanded OneWeb provide a guarantee that its satellites were not going to be used against Russia.
• The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics switched off the eROSITA black hole telescope aboard the Russian Spektr-RG satellite on February 26.

Energy

• On 27 February, BP plc announced that it had exited its 19.75% shareholding in Rosneft along with the resignation from the Rosneft board of directors by BP Chief Executive Bernard Looney and former BP chief executive Robert Dudley.
• ExxonMobil cut business ties with Russia and announced that they will not be investing in new developments in the country.
• Equinor announced its decision to stop new investments into Russia, and to start the process of exiting Equinor’s Russian Joint Ventures.
• Shell announced a withdrawal from all Russian exposure, including pulling out of the giant Sakhalin 2 LNG project and withdrawing its support of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.
• TotalEnergies announced that it "will no longer provide capital for new projects in Russia" but has retained ownership of its 19.4% stake in privately-owned Novatek, Russia's largest LNG producer.
• Centrica announced it will exit gas supply agreements with Russia.

Entertainment

• Disney, Warner Bros., Sony, Paramount, and Universal announced they would pause theatrical releases in Russia, including the release of The Batman, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Turning Red.
• Netflix announced that it would not add 20 Russian channels to their service, despite a requirement to do so under Russian law. On 4 March, Netflix announced that it has paused all future projects and acquisitions from Russia, effectively cancelling some of those potential movies and shows. On 6 March, Netflix went even further and announced that it will pull out its service from Russia altogether.
• DirecTV stopped distribution of Russian-controlled television network RT America, sister network to RT.
• Roku, Inc removed Russian-controlled television network RT from its stores in the US and Europe.
• TikTok restricted access to Russian state media accounts in the European Union.
• The Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival stated that Russian delegation will not be welcome at its events.
• The Glasgow Film Festival dropped two Russian films from its lineup, No Looking Back and The Execution, both receiving Russian funding.
• The National Association of Television Program Executives banned Russian companies from its international television trade fair in Hungary.
• The European Film Academy boycotted all Russian films.
• BBC Studios, All3Media and ITV Studios stopped doing business with Russia, including its licensing of shows to Russian customers.
• The European Broadcasting Union excluded Russia from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, with the organizers saying that its inclusion could "bring the competition into disrepute".
• Spotify closed its Russian office and removed all content from Russian state-owned media.
• Several orchestras and opera houses, including the Royal Opera House, Metropolitan Opera, and Vienna Philharmonic, cut ties with Russian performers who had voiced support for Putin, even those who opposed the invasion of Ukraine, including soprano Anna Netrebko, conductor Valery Gergiev, and the Bolshoi Theatre.
• WWE terminated its broadcast partnership with Russian television network Match and shut down the WWE Network in Russia.
• Linus Media Group ceased working with Russian and Belarusian entities and stopped shipping merchandise from their store to those countries.
• The Fédération Internationale Féline (International Cat Federation) banned cats bred in Russia from being imported or registered in its pedigree book outside Russia, and exhibitors living in Russia from being entered at any its shows outside Russia, meaning cats bred in Russia or owned by Russians are banned from competitions. The restrictions are valid until the end of May.
• The organizer of the European Tree of the Year put Russia out of the running for the contest, excluding the Turgenev's Oak from nomination.

Esports and electronic games

• Ukraine based esport organisation NAVI severed partnership with Russian esport organisation ESForce. Companies under ESForce Holding includes RuHub, Epic Esports Events, Cybersport.ru and Virtus.pro.
• BLAST Premier cancelled upcoming tournament qualifier for the CIS region and banned Russian-based teams from attending its events for the "foreseeable future".
• ESL bans organizations with ties to the Russian government from participating in ESL Pro League. The affected teams are Virtus.pro and Gambit Esports. However, the players are allowed to participate in the tournament "under a neutral name, without representing their country, organization or their teams’ sponsors on their clothing". All scheduled tournaments in the CIS region have also been paused and postponed.
• Finnish tournament organiser Elisa Esports bans all Russian-owned organizations from participating in its tournaments.
• Ukrainian tournament organiser WePlay terminates coorperation with all partners from the Russian Federation.
• Electronic Arts removed the Russian teams from its games FIFA 22, FIFA Mobile, and FIFA Online, and removed the Russian and Belarusian teams from NHL 22. They also halted sales of games in both Russia and Belarus.
• Polish game developer CD Projekt cut off sales for all of its products to Russia and Belarus, including Cyberpunk 2077 and all games on GOG.com.
• Nintendo placed the Nintendo eShop for Russia into maintenance mode, which disabled the ability to make purchases or downloads for Nintendo Switch digital games, DLC, or microtransactions.
• Sony Interactive Entertainment pulled Gran Turismo 7 from digital and physical sale in Russia and postponed its release in the Russian market until further notice.
• Activision Blizzard and Epic Games halted sale of games in Russia.

Food and beverage

• In Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia most supermarkets removed Russian and Belarusian products, such as food, drinks, magazines, and newspapers, with Coop, Rimi, Maxima, and Barbora being the most notable supermarket chains to join the boycott.
• In Canada, the liquor control boards of several provinces, including the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the Société des alcools du Québec, the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation, the Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corporation, the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation, and the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, were ordered to remove Russian alcohol products from retail stores. The government of British Columbia ceased the import of Russian liquor products, and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario announced the removal of Russian liquor from all 679 liquor retailers within its jurisdiction.
• In the United States, the governors of Ohio, New Hampshire, and Utah placed legal restrictions on the sale of Russian liquor, and many bars, restaurants, and liquor retailers have removed Russian brands from their selections voluntarily, with some supporting Ukrainian liquors in a further show of solidarity with Ukraine. The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority pulled Russian-sourced vodka from its stores and places them into storage. Utah and New Hampshire signs executive orders removing all Russian produced and Russian-branded alcohol from its stores. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board no longer sells nor procures Russian products.
• The Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian alcohol monopolies, Alko, Systembolaget and Vinmonopolet, stopped the sale of Russian alcoholic beverages.
• Finland's two main retailers, S-Group and Kesko, and Norway's biggest retailer group Norgesgruppen (operating Meny, Kiwi, Joker and Spar grocery stores) removed Russian goods from their shelves.
• In Denmark, most supermarkets removed all Russian products.
• Fonterra, one of the world's largest dairy producers from New Zealand, suspended shipments of all its dairy products to Russia.
• Australian retailers such as ALDI, Coles Group, and Endeavour Group (Dan Murphys, BWS) removes all Russian made alcohol from its stores and services. Metcash stops stocking all Russian made products.
• Nemiroff cancelled its license for production in Russia.
• Diageo paused all exports of its spirits to Russia.
• British food retailers Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Aldi, Waitrose and the Co-op have remove all Russian-made spirits, notably Russian Standard vodka from their shelves.
• SPI, the holding company behind Stolichnaya vodka has said that company would rebrand its signature vodka to just Stoli, and change the source of the ingredients from Russia to Slovakia.
• Czech online food shop Kosik.cz has removed Russian and Belarusian products.
• Fazer exits all its operations in Russia. Earlier Fazer had suspended all exports of its confectionery, grain and bakery products from Finland to Russia and stopped all investments.
• Finnish brewery and soft drinks company Olvi will stop exporting to Russia and Belarus, suspend investments in Belarus and start withdrawing from the Belarusian market. Czech brewer Budvar halted beer deliveries to Russia.
• Finnish food company Atria stops its operations in Russia.
• The French food group Danone said it was suspending investments in Russia, but would maintain the production and distribution of fresh dairy products and infant nutrition.
• Arla Foods has initiated preparations to suspend its business in Russia. This will cover both its local operations and imports.
• Valio will close business operation in Russia, including imports to Finland. Previously it had stopped all exports from Finland to Russia and Belarus.
• Paulig, a food and beverage company, withdraws from Russia.

Goods

Automotive

• Car manufacturers Ford, General Motors, Jaguar, Volvo and Renault suspended all sales and operations in Russia. Honda suspended all exports to Russia and Toyota announced it halted production at its plant in Saint Petersburg and ceased all shipments to Russia. Mazda suspended shipments of parts to Russia while Mitsubishi Motors assessed the risk of operating in Russia. Volkswagen suspended production at Kaluga and Nizhny Novgorod sites and also stopped exports to Russia. Nissan to halt work at its factory in the Russian city of St Petersburg in the coming days. Earlier it had suspended vehicle exports to Russia.
• Truck manufacturer Daimler Truck Holding AG discontinued business activities in Russia and reviewed ties with Kamaz.
• Motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson suspended all business in Russia.
• Motorcycle manufacturer Yamaha Motor Company suspended cycling exports in Russia.

Apparel and accessories

• Nike halted all online sales in Russia, stating it could not guarantee delivery of products.
• Adidas suspended its partnership with the Russian Football Union.
• Clothing retailers H&M and Burberry paused all sales in Russia.
• Online luxury e-commerce platforms YOOX Net-a-Porter Group and Farfetch suspended delivery in the country.
• Luxury fashion retailers LVMH, Chanel, Hermès, Kering and Richemont. Cartier announced on 4 March the closure of all their stores in Russia on 4 March. LVMH owns several luxury brands including Dior, Givenchy, Fendi and Bulgari and has 124 stores in Russia, while Chanel and Hermès have 17 and 3 stores respectively. Brands owned by Kering include Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, and Balenciaga, while brands owned by Richemont include Cartier, Buccellati, Piaget and Montblanc.
• British online fashion retailers ASOS and Boohoo.com suspended sales in Russia.
• British clothing retailer Marks & Spencer has stopped shipments to its Russian franchise stores, and is donating £500 000 ($666,000, €605 000) to UNHCR. Its Russian web site is trading normally https://marksandspencer.ru/
• Spanish fashion retailer Inditex, the owner of Zara, is temporarily closing all its shops in Russia and halting online sales.
• TJX sells its 25% stake in Russian clothing retailer Familia.
• Puma suspends operation of all its stores in Russia.
• X-Bionic X-Bionic have used Putin to promote their products on Instagram featuring photographs of him wearing their sports clothing.
• Prada suspended retail operations in Russia.
• Polish clothing retailer LPP, the owner of Reserved, suspended all of its business activities in Russia. The company has around 500 stores in Russia.
• Canada Goose suspended all wholesale and e-commerce sales in Russia.
• Levi Strauss & Co suspended its Russian operations, including any new investments.

Other

• IKEA closed their 17 stores in Russia and halted sourcing materials from Russia and Belarus. IKEA's decision to close their stores led to Russian consumerss panic buying furniture and home appliances on the final day of the store's operations in the country.
• Czech online shop Kytary.cz with musical instruments suspended all business contacts with Russian suppliers.
• British Land will terminate its rental contract with Gazprom’s global trading arm based in central London. Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T) had occupied the top floors of 20 Triton Street in Regent’s Park.
• Belgian chemicals group Solvay S.A. suspended operations or investment in the country.
• Fiskars Group has decided to withdraw completely from the Russian market.
• Kemira, a global chemicals company, discontinued deliveries to Russia and Belarus, primarily impacting pulp and paper customers in Russia.

Services

• International law firms White & Case, Baker McKenzie, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius reviewed and ended Russian-related operations and clients.
• US-based law firms Sidley Austin and Venable LLP terminated registrations to lobby in Washington for sanctioned financial institutions.
• Consulting company KPMG ended some Russian client relationships. Ernst & Young (EY) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) seperated their russian firms from the global network. Deloitte, the other member of the Big Four accounting firms, announced that they were reviewing their business and presence in Russia.
• Technology consulting firm Accenture discontinued all its Russian business affecting about 2,300 Russian employees.
• Grant Thornton International announced that its Russian member firm is leaving the network, noting that it had done work for Gazprom and the Central Bank of Russia.

Shipping and transportation

• UPS and FedEx announced that they would halt shipments to Russia and Ukraine.
• Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd and Ocean Network Express halted all container shipping to Russia, except for basic food products, medicine and humanitarian aid. These are five of the six largest container shipping companies in the world. The sixth largest carrier is the Chinese company COSCO which continues to ship to Russia.

Aviation

• Airbus suspended support for Russian airlines on 2 March, and suspended services provided by the Airbus Engineering Centre in Russia.
• Boeing announced that it had suspended 'major operations' in Russia, including support for Russian airlines. It has also suspended buying titanium from Russia.
• Delta Air Lines suspended its code sharing partnership with Russian airliner Aeroflot on February 25.
• Aircraft manufacturer Embraer announced the halting of supply of parts and aircraft to Russia.

Sports

• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) called upon international sporting federations to either move or cancel any sports events planned in Russia or Belarus. It recommended International Sports Federations and sports event organizers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions.
• The International Paralympics Committee banned Russian and Belarusian para-athletes from the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing on 3 March following threats of boycotts by other nations.
• World Archery Federation, World Athletics, the International Biathlon Union, the Union Cycliste Internationale, the Badminton World Federation, the International Canoe Federation, the International Modern Pentathlon Union, World Rowing, World Rugby, the International Surfing Association, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, World Sailing, the International Shooting Sport Federation, the International Table Tennis Federation, World Triathlon, the International Weightlifting Federation, United World Wrestling, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, the International Luge Federation and the International Gymnastics Federation banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in their events, in line with the IOC's recommendation.
• UEFA, the European governing body for football, decided to relocate the Champions League final from Saint Petersburg to Saint-Denis, France, after a meeting of the body's executive committee. The national football teams of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Sweden refused to play against Russia. On 27 February, FIFA announced that Russian teams would have to play as "Football Union of Russia", without flags or anthems; moreover, any "home" games would be played at a neutral site without fans. On 28 February, after criticism for its decision and a prospect of boycotts by multiple countries, FIFA, joined by UEFA, went further and indefinitely suspended Russian teams from playing international football. On 4 March, Russia appealed this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
• Formula One called off the 2022 Russian Grand Prix, with world champions Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen calling it "wrong" to race in the country. It also canceled its contract with the promoter for races in Russia, which ran through 2025. Also, the Haas F1 Team ended their partnership with Russian chemical company Uralkali and terminated the contract of their Russian driver Nikita Mazepin.
• The International Judo Federation suspended President Putin's status as "Honorary President and Ambassador of the International Judo Federation". It also cancelled all judo competitions in Russia. Russian athletes would be allowed to participate in IJF events only under the IJF flag, logo and anthem.
• The National Hockey League announced that it was suspending all Russian business relationships, pausing Russian language websites, and would not host future competitions in Russia. The International Ice Hockey Federation suspended all Russian and Belarusian national and club teams from its competitions and stripped Russia of hosting rights for the 2023 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
• Finland-based Jokerit withdrew from the 2021–2022 playoffs in Russia's top-tier Kontinental Hockey League, and then from the league entirely; Latvia-based Dinamo Riga subsequently withdrew from the league as well.
• The International Hockey Federation, which governs field hockey, decided to exclude Russia from the 2022 Women's FIH Hockey Junior World Cup in South Africa.
• The International Chess Federation (FIDE) banned Russian and Belarusian flags from international chess events, ended sponsorships with Russian and Belarusian sanctioned companies, and opened bids to other countries to host the 44th Chess Olympiad. Furthermore, it suspended Anatoly Karpov's title of FIDE Ambassador for Life.
• FC Schalke 04 ended its sponsorship deal with Russian state-controlled oil and gas company Gazprom.
• FINA, the international governing body for aquatic sports, withdrew the FINA Order awarded to Vladimir Putin in 2014. FINA announced athletes will not be allowed to compete using the country name Russia or Belarus. It suspended the FINA Water Polo World League events scheduled to take place in Saint Petersburg on 8 March, as well as cancelled a 2022 FINA Diving World Series event and a 2022 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series event, scheduled to take place in Kazan in April. The 2022 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships scheduled for August was cancelled. FINA looks to reschedule all other events that were set to take place in Russia over the next year.
• The Euroleague Basketball suspended participation of Russian teams CSKA Moscow, UNICS Kazan, and Zenit Saint Petersburg in the 2021–2022 EuroLeague and of Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar from the 2021–2022 EuroCup.
• FIBA, the international governing body for basketball, suspended participation of Russian national teams and officials in FIBA basketball and 3x3 basketball competitions until further notice. The Russian national team was expelled from the 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. FIBA suspended Russian teams (UMMC Ekaterinburg, Dynamo Kursk and MBA Moscow from the playoffs of EuroLeague Women.
• AusCycling announced a ban on Russian or Belarusian teams at the 2022 UCI Road World Championships to be held in Australia in September. Cyclists from Russia and Belarus were also banned from all events in the UK by British Cycling and in the Netherlands by the Royal Dutch Cycling Union.
• The World Speed Skating Championships and World Junior Figure Skating Championships banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes.
• The International Ski Federation cancelled all skiing events in Russia while the Norwegian Ski Federation told Russian athletes "we do not want your participation" in its upcoming events.
• The World Curling Federation proposed a rule to ban Russian athletes and moved the 2022 European Curling Championships away from Perm.
• The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) removed all events from Russia and Belarus and an indefinite ban on participation by Russian and Belarusian athletes, horses, and officials.in FEI events.
• The Fédération Internationale d'Escrime, which governs fencing, banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes. Ukraine pulled out of the 2022 Fencing World Cup to avoid facing Russia.
• The World Karate Federation relocated the 2022 Karate1 Premier League away from Moscow.
• The World Squash Federation relocated the 2022 World Junior Squash Championships away from Saint Petersburg.
• World Taekwondo banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at its events and will no longer organise or recognise events in Russia and Belarus. Furthermore, it stripped Vladamir Putin of the honorary black belt given to him in 2013.
• The International Skating Union, on 1 March 2022, banned competitors and officials from Russia and Belarus from taking part in its international events, until further notice, making the skaters ineligible for the 2022 World Figure Skating Championships.
• The European Handball Federation suspended participation of Russian and Belarusian national and club teams from its competitions.
• The R&A, which governs golf outside the U.S. and Mexico, announced it would decline applications from Russian and Belarusian golfers for scheduled events.
• The International World Games Association banned Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from participating in the 2022 World Games.
• The 2022 Special Olympics World Winter Games scheduled to take place in Kazan, Russia, were cancelled.
• The International University Sports Federation withdrew three competitions from Russia and Belarus.
• The International Tennis Federation suspended the Russian Tennis Federation and Belarus Tennis Federation from ITF membership and participation in ITF international team competitions.
• The International Sambo Federation (FIAS) suspended international sambo competitions in Russia and Belarus. Russian and Belarusian athletes may participate in FIAS international competitions under the FIAS flag, logo, and anthem.
• LEN, the governing body for aquatic sports in Europe, banned all athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus from taking part in their competitions as well as withholding LEN events from being held in either country.

Technology

• Apple stopped selling products in Russia. This also includes the suspension of Apple Pay.
• Oracle suspended all operations in Russia.
• SAP paused sales in Russia.
• Telecommunications company Ericsson suspended all deliveries to Russia.
• Snapchat stopped running ads in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine and halts ad sales.
• Reddit prohibited links to Russian state media and rejected any advertisement from any Russian-based entity, government or private.
• Domain registrar and hosting provider Namecheap terminated its service to all Russian customers, requiring users to switch providers by 22 March 2022. Namecheap allowed exceptions for "all anti-regime media, protest resources, and any type of websites that are helping to end this war and regime".
• Domain registrar GoDaddy stopped supporting new registrations for the .ru extension. Registrants are also unable to sell or transfer existing domains to any party for profit.
• Uber distanced itself from the Russian company Yandex.Taxi by ending its partnership agreement and three Uber executives resign from its board. Uber agreed to allow Yandex to purchase its 29% stake in the company.
• Search engine DuckDuckGo paused its partnership with Yandex Search.
• Rakuten removed Russian ads from its messaging app Viber.
• Microsoft suspended new sales of its products and services in Russia.
• Networking company Cisco suspended all deliveries to Russia and Belarus.
• Samsung suspended shipments to Russia and is donating $6 million to aid refugees and to other humanitarian relief efforts. Samsung Pay is also suspended in Russia.
• Panasonic suspended shipments and ended operations in Russia, while donating ¥20 million in aid to Ukrainian refugees under the Polish Red Cross.
• Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter stopped displaying RT and Sputnik accounts in EU member states.
• Google suspended its ad business in Russia in response to the Russian government's ultimatum to "stop advertising anti-Russian propaganda".
• Adobe suspended operations in Russia.
• Dell paused sales of all its products to Russia.
• HP suspends shipment of all its products to Russia.
• Semiconductor manufacturers TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices halted sales to Russia and third parties that supplied to Russia. Russian companies that design their own chips such as Baikal CPU, MCST, Yadro and STC Module are manufactured by TSMC, which cut off Russia's access to semiconductors.
• Audio equipment manufacturer Yamaha Corporation suspended exports and paused operations in Russia.
• Equipment manufacturer JCB paused all operations, including the export of machines and spare parts.
• Nokia stopped deliveries to Russia.
• Web Summit banned all Russian government members, agencies, state-controlled media, state-backed businesses, and companies with ties to the Russian government from participating at its conferences.
• Industrial manufacturing company Siemens withdrew from most of its business in Russia.
• Wärtsilä, a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets, has suspended all deliveries and new sales to Russia.
• Ponsse, a Finnish company that manufactures, sells and maintains forest machine, discontinues temporarily all export operations to Russia and Belarus, including local spare parts and service operations.
• Upwork, an American freelancing platform, is suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus, with a complete shut down to take effect by May 1.

Tourism

• AirBaltic suspended all flights to and from the Russian market.
• Airbnb suspended all operations in Russia and Belarus.
• Booking Holdings suspended all operations in Russia and travel services in Belarus.
• Airline booking service Sabre Corporation terminated its booking agreement with Aeroflot.

Other

Airspace closures

  Russia

  Ukraine

  Countries that have banned Russian aircraft from their airspace in response to the invasion

By 5 March 2022, the following countries and territories had completely closed their airspace to all Russian airlines and Russian-registered private jets:

European Union (EU27)  Austria  Belgium  Bulgaria  Croatia  Cyprus  Czech Republic  Denmark  Estonia  Finland  France  Germany  Greece  Hungary  Ireland  Italy  Latvia  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Malta  Netherlands  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Slovakia  Slovenia  Spain  Sweden

Albania Canada Greenland Iceland Montenegro North Macedonia Norway Switzerland Ukraine (since 2015) United Kingdom United States

Companies criticized for not joining the boycott

A number of companies have faced growing pressure to halt operations in Russia, but have not yet done so. Those include:

• Amazon, maintaining Russia operations (including AWS)
• Auchan, a French multinational supermarket chain which in 2016 was ranked first in a list of the largest foreign-owned companies by the Russian edition of Forbes, with revenue in Russia of more than $5 billion.
• Binance
• British American Tobacco, which controls 24% of the Russian tobacco market.
• Burger King
• Coca-Cola
• Coinbase
• Estée Lauder Companies
• Hyundai, which produces about 200,000 cars in Russia annually.
• Japan Tobacco International, the top tobacco company in Russia, which controls 37% of the Russian tobacco market.
• KFC
• Kia, the South Korean car manufacturer and Russia's third-largest carmaker as of 2016.
• Leroy Merlin, a French home improvement and DIY retailer.
• McDonald's
• Metro AG, which operates cash and carry stores in Russia.
• Mondelez International
• PepsiCo
• Philip Morris International, which controls 32% of the Russian tobacco market.
• Pizza Hut
• Shell plc
• Starbucks
• Yum Brands

See also

• Do not buy Russian goods!
  • Boycott Russian Films
• List of people sanctioned during the Russo-Ukrainian War