Two major U.S. manufacturers, Boeing and Ford Motor, have suspended their business activities in Russia as the country escalated its war in Ukraine.
Boeing said on Tuesday that it had halted major operations in its Moscow office and temporarily closed another office in Kyiv, Ukraine. The company also said it had ceased providing parts, maintenance and technical support services to Russian airlines. In recent days, countries around the world have imposed sanctions on Russian carriers, limiting their ability to use leased planes; fly over Western Europe; or buy spare parts.
Boeing employs several thousand people in Russia, Ukraine and a handful of former Soviet states, an operation that includes a major design center in Moscow. The company also runs a flight training campus and research and technology center in the city and has a joint venture in Russia with VSMPO-AVISMA, Boeing’s largest titanium supplier.
Boeing has been trying to diversify its titanium supply in recent years, and it said it had enough of the metal on hand to keep making commercial aircraft in the near term.
Ford, which once had three plants in Russia, is suspending its remaining operations in the country indefinitely because of the invasion. The automaker is part of a joint venture that makes small delivery vans at a plant in Yelabuga, more than 600 miles east of Moscow. It also works with a distributor that sells imported Ford vehicles.
“Ford is deeply concerned about the invasion of Ukraine and the resultant threats to peace and stability,” the company said in a statement. “The situation has compelled us to reassess our operations in Russia.”
Ford shut down its three plants in Russia in 2019 as part of an effort to turn around its struggling European operation.