Russian has been dealt a string of further financial blows, as global corporate giants from BP to big banks and Australia's Fortescue scramble to pull their investments out of the country.
Australia's richest man Andrew Forrest told ABC News he had pulled back his renewable energy interests in Russia, and condemned Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
"I'm devastated. I've spent time in Crimea, I've spent time in the Ukraine," Mr Forrest said.
"We have been trying to work with Russia for some time, we've made it incredibly clear that you just have no excuse to go and invade another country."
The Fortescue Metals chairman said the company's renewables arm, Fortescue Future Industries, would retreat from green hydrogen projects underway in Russia.
Mr Forrest said he had met with Mr Putin on previous trips to Moscow, and described him as someone who would not be rattled by Western sanctions.
"He's an incredibly intelligent person, not to be underestimated in any way. And tough, very tough," Mr Forrest said.
Russia has the world's third largest iron ore reserves, after Australia and Brazil, meaning it is a potential rival to Fortescue's iron ore exports.
But Mr Forrest had a careful response when asked if sanctions created an opportunity for Fortescue to target Russia's iron ore clients.
"I don't look at it like that at all. I mean we're not going to exploit the miseries of another country," he said.
BP could take $US25b hit for leaving Russia
British oil giant BP has warned it may take up to a $US25 billion ($35 billion) hit as it plans to exit its nearly 20 per cent stake in Russian energy producer Rosneft.
BP has held a 19.75 per cent shareholding in the oil and gas company since 2013 and had two seats on Rosneft's board.
However, in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, both those directors have resigned immediately and BP will offload its Rosneft shareholding.
"Russia's attack on Ukraine is an act of aggression which is having tragic consequences across the region," said BP's chair Helge Lund in a statement.
"It has led the BP board to conclude, after a thorough process, that our involvement with Rosneft, a state-owned enterprise, simply cannot continue."
The company has warned investors that it could be forced to take up to $US25 billion in accounting writedowns related to the action, depending what the fair market value of Rosneft is at the next reporting date of March 31.
The $US25 billion figure assumes its Rosneft holding is worth zero at that date.
World's biggest sovereign wealth fund to pull out
BP is not the only Western giant exiting Russia, with Norway's sovereign wealth fund also planning to divest its Russian assets, the country's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced at a news briefing Sunday, according to Reuters.
Valued at $US1.3 trillion ($1.8 trillion), Norway's state-backed investment fund, based on the nation's North Sea oil revenues, is the world's largest.
The fund's Russian assets consist of shares in 47 companies, as well as government bonds, worth a total of some 25 billion Norwegian crowns ($3.9 billion), the government said.
Banks blocking trade credit
European banking giants Societe Generale and Credit Suisse have halted the finance of commodities trading from Russia, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday citing sources familiar with the matter.
The two banks, key financiers to commodity trade houses, are no longer providing the money needed to move raw materials such as metals and oil from Russia, the report said.
The report added that Dutch banking giants ING and Rabobank are also restricting lending to deals involving movement of commodities from Russia and Ukraine.
Credit Suisse and Societe Generale declined to comment. ING and Rabobank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The moves by individual banks come after it was announced that some Russian banks would be excluded from continuing to use the SWIFT global financial transfers system relied on for tens of millions of transactions a day between around 11,000 financial institutions across 200 countries.
Russia's central bank has also been sanctioned by the US, UK and many European nations in an effort to freeze its offshore reserves.
This action could make it difficult for Russia to defend its currency against continued falls, after it had already slumped more than 10 per cent against the US dollar in recent days, before the latest round of sanctions were announced.
ABC/Reuters
