March 8, 2022
LONDON (Reuters) – London Stock Exchange Group on Tuesday said it will suspend the provision in Russia of products containing news and commentary from 1200 GMT on Wednesday.
A new Russian law makes it possible to jail journalists who intentionally spread what the Russian authorities describe as “fake news” for up to 15 years. The law makes it illegal to report any event that could discredit the Russian military.
“To comply with the changes in Russian law, LSEG today announces it is suspending access to products in Russia that contain its news and commentary,” LSEG said in a notice to customers.
“This will take effect from 1200 GMT Wednesday 9 March.” It declined to elaborate.
The exchange said it was also suspending all new sales of products and services in Russia, but data products will continue to be accessible by currently serviced customers.
The LSE distributes news and commentary from Reuters as part of its products. Thomson Reuters, the parent of Reuters News, holds a minority stake in the LSE after the exchange bought data and analytics company Refinitiv from it.
LSEG said last week it has 150 staff in Moscow and nine in Ukraine, and operations in the two countries account for less than 1% of income, which totalled 6.8 billion pounds in 2021.
Britain’s BBC on Friday temporarily halted reporting in Russia, and on Tuesday said it would resume English language reporting from Russia in the evening.
Other news organisations have also stopped work in Russia, including the Canadian Broadcasting Company and Bloomberg News.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by David Goodman and Jon Boyle)
