Russian court freezes all Volkswagen assets in Russia

A Russian court has frozen all Volkswagen assets in Russia, court
documents seen by Reuters showed. 

Volkswagen was one of a string of foreign carmakers that
suspended operations in Russia after western countries imposed
unprecedented sanctions on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian auto manufacturer GAZ, which was contracted to
produce Volkswagen vehicles at its factory in Nizhny Novgorod,
had sued the German carmaker for breach of contract after
Volkswagen terminated the agreement in August. 

GAZ estimated its losses from the terminated contract at
almost 16 billion roubles ($207.79 million). 

Volkswagen is attempting to sell its flagship Russian
factory in Kaluga, south of Moscow. The plant, which has a
capacity of 225,000 vehicles a year, has been furloughed since
March 2022. 

Pulling out of Russia

In retaliation to Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, a list of global companies cut ties with Russia to grow as sanctions against Moscow rack up over its attacks on Ukraine.

Major multinational corporations have begun pulling out of Moscow’s markets.

The pull outs poured in after several Western nations targeted Moscow with severe sanctions, restrictions and cut key Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system last year. 

Among the major companies were Apple, Microsoft, BP, Shell, Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Boeing, Airbus, Lufthansa, Meta, Google, Twitter, YouTube, Sony and Netflix. 

READ MORE: New car sales in Russia drop 83.5% year-on-year in May