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Chronicle of world's economic war against Russia: GM is finally leaving aggressor country

After the full-scale invasion in Ukraine, Russia faced economic problems and sanctions from many countries and international organizations. The government of the aggressor country calls it economic war. The Page has prepared the latest reports as of 20 April.

Economy

The Russian Ministry of Labor estimated that 98,000 employees are currently workless. This is 2.5 times more than on 1 March.

Russian bank VTB, which is now under sanctions in the West, offered to ban the mentioning of banks being unsanctioned as a competitive advantage, as they saw their workers trying to divide the business community into "white and non-white."

Metallurgical plant NLMK was the first issuer to request permission to continue listing depository receipts on the London Stock Exchange. Company owner Vladimir Lisin has previously criticized the law that required delisting, saying it would violate the rights of "shareholders who believed in Russia."

General Motors is finally leaving the Russian market. The company fired employees and informed the dealers that they cease supplying cars and auto parts in Russia. General Motors may become the first automobile brand to officially leave Russia. Other companies have announced the suspension of their work. General Motors owns several brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.

Shipments of Russian oil by sea fell by 25% within a week from 8 to 15 April. A total of 21.8 million barrels of oil were loaded on 30 tankers.

The London Precious Metals Association (LBMA) has suspended Good Delivery status for all six Russian refineries that produce gold bars. Russian banks were taken off the list of LBMA participants. These measures make it harder to export gold from Russia.

The Japanese corporation Toshiba stops accepting new orders and investments in Russia. According to the company, the Russian market brings it only 0.2% of total revenue.

The French company Danone is suspending new investments in Russia and imports of products under the brands Evian and Alpro.

Russian authorities are considering reducing tariffs on harmful emissions by 4 — 5 times. This can be one of the measures to support business.

German enterprise software provider SAP will leave Russia. Earlier, the company stopped sales in Russia and Belarus. Until the closure of its cloud services, SAP will allow non-sanctioned companies to remove their data, download or transfer it to a data center outside the country. As for local products, the company is studying how to stop supporting them without violating the commitment to users.

Sanctions

Canada has expanded personal sanctions against Russians. The list added 14 more people, including the head of the central bank Elvira Nabiullina, Putin's daughters Kateryna Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova, and billionaire Mikhail Friedman.

Society

The car sales of Russian automobile brand Lada fell by 56% a year in March, said Renault Group, French brand owner. The number of cars sold in Russia decreased by 64%.

Stocks of foreign electronics and home appliances in Russian will run out this summer. This forecast does not imply the possible rush demand. It also counts the supplies ordered in winter, which are currently stuck in Europe.

The organizers of the tennis tournament in Wimbledon plan to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes. The ban will apply to the number 2 tennis player, Daniil Medvedev.

A group of Communist deputies has submitted to the State Duma a bill to change the state flag of Russia. They propose to replace the tricolor with the USSR flag. In an explanatory note, they call the red flag historical, and the tricolor a gift from the Dutch and a symbol of Russian collaborationism.

The World Federation of International Music Competitions expelled the International Tchaikovsky Competition, a classical music competition held in Russia.

Russian school canteens should replace imported products with domestic ones, said Rosspotrebnadzor. The share of imported food in school menus is almost 4%, which is mostly fruits, vegetables and meat.

Despite general trend

German tire manufacturer Continental has temporarily resumed production at the plant in Kaluga, Russia. This decision was made because the company fears criminal consequences for employees and management of the branch in Russia in case it doesn't complete local orders. It also implies the temporary production "if necessary". Still, the production volumes at the Russian facility are lower than before.

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