Telecom giant Nokia has announced it is pulling out of Russia, the latest in a flood of foreign companies that are leaving amid punishing Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's war in Ukraine.
The Finnish company's chief executive officer told Reuters that the decision to indefinitely suspend operations was the only option.
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"We just simply do not see any possibilities to continue in the country under the current circumstances," Pekka Lundmark was quoted as saying on April 12.
He said the decision to leave would affect about 2,000 workers; some of them could be offered work in other locations where Nokia operates.
Hundreds of foreign companies have pulled out of Russia following Moscow's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in unprecedented economic sanctions from the West.
Russia's economy is forecast to shrink drastically this year. The World Bank predicts it will contract by as much as 11 percent, while other Western forecasts say the contraction could reach up to 20 percent.
Aleksei Kudrin, a former finance minister who now heads Russia's Audit Chamber, told Russian lawmakers on April 12 that gross domestic product was expected to fall by more than 10 percent.
European Union officials, meanwhile, are discussing whether to impose an embargo on Russian oil exports. The United States and Britain have already banned Russian oil, aiming to cut Moscow off from a sizable revenue source.
