LONDON (AP) — Auto shipments stopped, beer stopped flowing, cargo ships dropped port calls and oil companies cut their pipelines.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has thrown business plans into disarray and forced a growing number of the world’s best known brands — from Apple to Ford and BP — to pull out of a country that’s become a global outcast as companies seek to maintain their reputations and live up to corporate responsibility standards.
Investors were drawn to Russia in search of lucrative profits they thought were worth the geopolitical risks. That calculation has changed after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched war in Europe, triggering a wave of global sanctions and export restrictions that have thrown its economy into turmoiland disrupted the operations of multinational corporations there.
“You basically have Russia becoming a commercial pariah,” said economist Mary Lovely, a senior fellow…
