White House building in Washington DC, USA. File photoWASHINGTON, Mar 21The US authorities did not ask any companies to leave Russia, this is their own decision, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing. «We did not ask any company specifically take steps to exit (from Russia — ed.). We welcomed those who made such a decision, and they will have to make decisions on their own,» Psaki said, answering the question whether the US administration has a position on the presence of American companies in Russia. Russia launched a 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 Russian Armed Forces, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive, but there is no talk of the occupation of Ukraine, the President of Russia emphasized. Western countries have imposed multiple sanctions in response to the Russian special operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine. A number of companies announced their withdrawal from the Russian market and the closure of production facilities in the country. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that Western companies that refuse to work with Russia did so under enormous pressure, but Russia will solve all the problems with the economy that the West creates for it.
