LEGO Leaves Russia For Good

The LEGO Group is the latest to stop sales in Russia. This halt comes after the company paused shipments to Russia in March. The world’s largest toy maker follows a slew of companies like Starbucks, Adidas, McDonalds, and many more.

In a statement sent to our sister site Gizmodo, the LEGO Group said in part that “Given the continued extensive disruption in the operating environment, we have decided to indefinitely cease commercial operations in Russia.” The company went on to say that this cease of operations includes ending employment for the Moscow-based team, which was made up of less than 90 people, as well as ending the partnership with Inventive Retail Group (IRG) which was the company that owned and operated 81 stores in Russia on the brand’s behalf.

In a statement to the BBC, LEGO said though it was ending the employment relationship with the Moscow based team, it has “provided 70 employees with financial packages to support them as they look for new opportunities.”

IRG, which also operates companies like Samsung and Nike in Russia, confirmed to CNBC that the contract they had with LEGO has been terminated. A spokesperson for IRG also told the outlet that “Our company will continue to work as an expert in the toy design and development category.” The company has had a rough couple of months regarding their Lego operations.

In June the local reseller froze some of the LEGO stores in Russia because sanctions imposed on Moscow impacted its supply network. The supplies of LEGO were temporarily suspended as the stores worked using local stocks, according to Reuters.

LEGO was placed on a list by Russia, in May, of products that could still be imported without the agreement of the intellectual property owner. This was in response to the restrictions imposed, and partially in response to Lego halting deliveries to Russia in March. That same list included smartphones from Apple and Samsung, and some game consoles.

Samsung and Apple both previously stated that they would no longer sell products to Russia. With the list of companies growing, many are wondering which company will pull itself out of the country next.

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