Russian Embassy in Washington DCWASHINGTON, Mar 14The Russian Embassy in the United States called the Wall Street Journal's report about the intimidation of Western companies in the Russian Federation by the possibility of detaining leaders and seizing assets «once again we call on local media to abandon the vicious practice of spreading false news. The Wall Street Journal opus is pure fiction» The embassy's Telegram channel said in a statement. The diplomatic mission emphasized that many Western enterprises operate in Russia, more than a thousand of them are American. Russophobic hysteria that encourages foreign businesses to suffer huge losses in order to «annoy» Russia,» the embassy emphasized. Earlier, the Wall Street Journal wrote that Russian authorities issued warnings to a number of companies, including McDonald's, IBM and KFC owner Yum Brands. The warnings were addressed, the newspaper claims, to companies in a variety of industries including technology, food, clothing and the banking sector. According to informed sources, representatives of the prosecutor's office paid visits and also made calls to these companies. They allegedly threatened to sue them and confiscate their assets, including trademarks. Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on 24 February. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops. With the support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive. But there is no question of the occupation of Ukraine, the President of Russia emphasized. In response, Western countries introduced new anti-Russian sanctions. In particular, several of the largest banks in the Russian Federation, including Sberbank and VTB, fell under them. The European Union, the USA, Canada and a number of other countries have closed the skies for Russian aircraft. A number of state-owned companies found it difficult to attract foreign capital. Sanctions have been imposed on the supply of high-tech products to Russia. Many big brands have announced they are suspending their activities or leaving Russia.
