As Western sanctions ravage Russia’s energy market, one of the nation’s largest nonstate companies, oil behemoth Lukoil, is reportedly calling for a ceasefire.
The board expressed its “deepest sympathy” to those afflicted by the conflict in Ukraine and called for diplomacy in a high-profile break from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Agence France-Presse reported.
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“[The Board] expresses its concern over the ongoing tragic events in Ukraine and its deepest sympathy to all those affected by this tragedy,” the company said in a statement, according to the outlet. It also called for “the immediate cessation of the armed conflict and fully supports its resolution through the negotiation process and through diplomatic means,” Insider Paper reported.
Lukoil’s reported statement makes it one of the first Russian companies to impugn its country’s invasion of Ukraine. The company’s website was down within minutes of AFP’s report. The Washington Examiner attempted to contact a representative for the company but did not receive a response.
Although many sanctions in Europe exempt key parts of the Russian energy sector from its most biting sanctions, foreign investment in Lukoil has seemingly evaporated. The company boasted its highest annual net income in seven years during 2021, Fortune reported. But its stock value plummeted over 99% in the United Kingdom and over 90% in the United States over the past two weeks.
The London Stock Exchange blocked Lukoil from trading, along with 26 other Russian companies. On Wednesday, the city council in Newark, New Jersey, voted to suspend licenses for gas stations owned by Lukoil in protest of Russia’s belligerence.
The company’s chairman Vagit Alekperov has lost an estimated $6.9 billion of his wealth in the past 10 days, according to Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.
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Russia’s war in Ukraine has had a devastating toll on its economy and relations with the West. The West has targeted pressure points in Russia, such as its oligarchy, in order to inflict maximal pain on its elite. For example, Germany recently snatched a yacht from one of Putin’s favorite oligarchs. The ruble is worth less than a penny compared to the U.S. as countries that have refrained from economic sanctions, such as Switzerland, join in on efforts to punish the hostile nation.
