Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing Co. and Japan Tobacco Inc. made U-turns and said they were stopping business in Russia, joining the corporate crowd shunning Moscow on Thursday, as Britain escalated sanctions against oligarchs including Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs became the first U.S. bank to quit Russia, and global grain trader Bunge Ltd. said it had suspended new export business from Russia, although it is still crushing oil seeds for the domestic market.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country would emerge stronger and more independent from Western sanctions, which he said were inevitable. The corporate condemnation of Russia's attack on Ukraine is spreading, but Putin, who calls the war a special military operation, said he had no choice.
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