Dairy products MOSCOW, Mar 21New Zealand dairy company Fonterra will withdraw from projects in Russia due to the situation in Ukraine, CEO Miles Harrell said. «Our first step … was to ensure the safety of the team in Russia, and our priority in this process remains the correct behavior of our people We then suspended shipments to Russia while we assessed the impact of economic sanctions and discussed our long-term plans with our customers and a joint venture partner.After careful consideration of the implications for our people and our long-term plans in the Russian market, we will now close our office in Moscow , if possible, we will transfer personnel and exit our joint venture Unifood,» the CEO said in a statement published on the company's website. Western countries have imposed new anti-Russian sanctions, including against Russian banks and enterprises, in response to Russia's 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 Russian Federation. 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. Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. 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 Russian Defense Ministry, the Armed Forces strike only at 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. lift anti-Russian sanctions
