Why Big Corporations Pulled Out Of Russia

In the months since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, nearly 1,000 Western companies have partially or fully curtailed their operations within the Russian Federation. On the surface, this is unsurprising: Russia has been the target of an unprecedented sanctions package by the West, and it is natural that corporate ties will be reduced during a period of economic warfare. The remarkable thing here is not that these companies have left Russia, but that they did so voluntarily: Rather than being compelled to do so by their governments, these companies unilaterally chose to go above and beyond the minimums required by the Western sanctions program.