Volvo Cars announced on Monday that it would no longer be shipping vehicles to Russia in protest of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Swedish company confirmed to the Washington Examiner in a statement that there were “potential risks associated” with shipping to Russia presently, noting that several countries including the United States and the European Union had imposed sanctions.
“Volvo Cars will not deliver any cars to the Russian market until further notice,” Ben Foulds, a spokesman from Volvo said in the statement to the Washington Examiner.
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A spokesman from the company told Reuters that Volvo sends vehicles to Russia from automobile plants located in the U.S., China, and Sweden. In 2021 alone, Volvo sold more than 9,000 cars to Russia, a 13.2% increase from the year before, according to Autostat.
President Joe Biden revealed Thursday that the U.S. would be imposing more sanctions against Russia in light of the full-scale invasion launched against Ukraine.
⚡️@volvocars has suspended the production and sale of cars in #Russia.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) February 28, 2022
“We’ve now sanctioned Russian banks that together hold around $1 trillion in assets. We’ve cut off Russia’s largest bank, a bank that holds more than one-third of Russia’s banking assets by itself. We’ve cut it off from the U.S. financial system,” said Biden during a press conference Thursday. “And today, we’re also blocking four more major banks. That means every asset they have in America will be frozen. This includes VTB, the second-largest bank in Russia, which has $250 billion in assets.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced similar sanctions aimed at Russia.
The White House announced on Friday that it would be joining European allies in directly applying sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and top officials from his national security team. Biden also authorized hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance to go to Ukraine.
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Volkswagen also announced on Monday that it would be temporarily ending shipments of cars to Russia. Daimler Truck, which split into two companies, Daimler Truck and Mercedes-Benz Group AG, also said on Monday that it would no longer be sending shipments of truck components to Russia.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Volvo Cars for a statement but did not immediately receive a response.
