Lawmakers in a New Jersey city hit gas station franchises of an oil company based in Russia with suspensions of operating licenses as a means to put pressure on Russia as its armed forces storm Ukraine.
The Newark City Council approved suspending the licenses of two gas station franchises of Lukoil in a unanimous vote, 8-0, on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Lukoil is one of the largest oil nonstate companies in the United States and the second-largest oil producer in Russia, with ties to Russian oligarchs connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“This is a step on the city side to do what the rest of the world is doing to impose some pressure on Russia,” said Anibal Ramos, a member of the city council.
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The board of directors from Lukoil issued a statement calling for the immediate ceasefire of the invasion in Ukraine, encouraging “diplomatic” negotiations to be held, Agence France-Presse reported.
“We advocate a rapid end to the armed conflict and unreservedly support its resolution through a process of negotiation and diplomatic means,” the board wrote in a statement, according to Agence France-Press.
While the moves from governors in states such as Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Texas, and Ohio to limit sales of Russia-affiliated products in a show of solidarity with Ukraine, some skeptics have pointed out the cost to U.S. businesses.
“I stand with Ukraine, and I’m fully in support of Russian sanctions. However, I am baffled and confused how shutting down an American-based small business owner is sending a message to support,” said Roger Verma, a Lukoil franchise owner with 16 employees, during the council meeting, according to CBS New York.
While Ramos said the council hopes this “action is temporary in the sense that, you know, the Russian federation ends this invasion of Ukraine,” Verma pointed out local businesses are “just coming out of COVID.”
“This is gonna put us out of business,” Verma said.
The United States and countries throughout Europe have imposed economic sanctions on Russia to pressure Putin to end the full-scale invasion.
“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,” President Joe Biden said on Feb. 24 during a press conference. “We’ve cut it off from the U.S. financial system. 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.”
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Lukoil North America, the New Jersey based-subsidiary company of Lukoil, has around 230 independently owned franchises throughout the state, as well as in New York and Pennsylvania.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Lukoil North America and to the Newark City Council but did not receive responses.
