European stock markets have closed lower.
- UK’s FTSE 100 index down 31 points, or 0.4%, at 7,458
- Germany’s Dax down 106 points, or 0.7%, at 14,461
- France’s CAC down 93 points, or 1.4%, at 6,658
- Italy’s FTSE MiB down 357 points, or 1.4%, at 25,415
And Shell has just said it will exit all its Russian operations, including its flagship Sakhalin 2 LNG plant in which it holds a 27.5% stake and which is operated and 50% owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom. The move comes a day after BP abandoned its stake in Rosneft, which could cost it $25bn.
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Updated
IIF: Russia 'extremely likely' to default on debts
The Institute of International Finance has warned that Russia is likely to default on its foreign debts.
Ellina Ribakova, the institute’s deputy chief economist, told reporters:
If we stay here and this [the crisis] escalates, then default and restructuring is likely.
She said a default was “extremely likely,” although the relatively small size of foreign debt holdings, of $60bn, would limit the fallout.
