Russia’s war spurs corporate exodus, exposes business risks

By KELVIN CHAN
AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has thrown business plans into disarray and forced a growing number of the world’s best known brands to pull out of a country that’s become a global outcast. Companies are seeking to maintain their reputations and live up to corporate responsibility standards. Car factories idled, beer stopped flowing, furniture and fashion orders ceased, and energy companies shut off pipelines. Investors have been drawn to Russia in search of lucrative profits they thought were worth the geopolitical risks. That calculation has changed after Russia’s invasion triggered a wave of global sanctions and export restrictions that have thrown its economy into turmoil and disrupted the operations of multinational corporations there.