On Saturday, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviaciya recommended to all Russian airlines that lease engines from foreign companies to suspend flights outside Russia from Sunday and from abroad to Russia from March 8. According to him, the sanctions threaten to confiscate aircraft abroad.

Russia’s sanctions were strongly criticized by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, when he said they were “akin to declaring war.” At the same time, however, he added that he saw no reason to declare martial law.

South Korea’s Samsung, which is number one in the country’s mobile segment, according to Reuters, also left Russia on Saturday. “Due to current geopolitical developments, shipments to Russia have been suspended. We will continue to actively monitor this difficult situation to determine our next steps,” Samsung said.

He said that he intends to support humanitarian activities in conflict areas, including assistance to refugees. “We donated six million dollars (141 million CZK) to this cause, including one million dollars in consumer electronics products. Our employees also help with their voluntary donations,” he added.

Inditex wants to protect “its” Russian jobs

Spanish group Inditex, which includes fashion brands Zara and Bershka, will suspend its business activities in Russia. The Group announced this to the Spanish stock exchange regulator.

Inditex has more than 500 stores and more than 9,000 employees in the country. According to some financial indicators, Russia is one of the most important European markets for the Spanish group.

Inditex informed regulators that under the current circumstances, it cannot guarantee the “continuation of its business activities” in Russia. Therefore, the group has temporarily suspended its sales in physical stores and on the Internet. The group also said its priority was protecting the jobs of the country’s 9,000 employees.

Currently, the American company PayPal Holdings, which operates the payment platform of the same name, has also suspended its services in Russia. Dan Schulman, the company’s CEO, said in a press statement that PayPal stands with the international community and condemns Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine. PayPal has joined a number of financial and technology companies that have suspended operations in Russia following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.

A company spokesman said that PayPal will continue to allow withdrawals in Russia for some time and will ensure that account balances are transferred in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Already on Wednesday, PayPal stopped accepting new clients in Russia. The suspension of PayPal activity in Russia also affects the international payment service Xoom.

Visa and Mastercard expire in Russia

Visa also said on Saturday that it was suspending operations in Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine and would work with its clients and partners in the coming days to halt all transactions in the country. Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside Russia will no longer work there, the company said in a statement.

Similarly, according to the same agency, Mastercard states that cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by the network and that any company cards issued outside of Russia will not work at local merchants or ATMs. The company stated on March 1 that it had removed several financial institutions from its payment system.

According to TASS, Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, said that the decisions of Visa and Mastercard will not affect the operation of cards issued by financial institutions in Russia. “All cards of Sberbank customers will work, it will be possible to carry out operations with them in Russia – withdraw cash, transfer money by card number and pay in brick-and-mortar and Russian online stores,” the bank said.

At the same time, they are not the first foreign companies to stop or suspend their activities in the Russian Federation after the Russian aggression. Earlier this week, Mladá Boleslav-based automaker koda Auto, software giant Microsoft or luxury brands Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Cartier decided to take such a step.

International Monetary Fund Alert

Russia’s attack on Ukraine is already having a very serious impact on the world economy, and if this conflict escalates, the economic consequences will be even more dire. This is stated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a recent report on the economic impact of the war in Ukraine. He also announced that his management could assess Ukraine’s request for emergency financing in the amount of 1.4 billion dollars (about 33 billion CZK) as early as next week.

“In addition to the loss of life, significant economic damage has been done in Ukraine. Sea ports and airports were closed and damaged, and many roads and bridges damaged or destroyed. While it is very difficult at this stage to accurately assess financial needs, it is clear that Ukraine faces costs.” significant reconstruction and rehabilitation,” the IMF said.