Sam Nussey, Praveen Menon

(Reuters) – Rio Tinto (NYSE 🙂 was the first mining giant to end ties with Russia and Japan. Sony (NYSE: ) Nintendo has stopped delivering their consoles to customers, as part of an international corporate exodus from Russia following its invasion in Ukraine.

Hitachi, the Japanese manufacturer of machinery for construction (OTC:), announced that it will cease exports from Russia. It also plans to close all operations in Russia, except those essential electrical power stations. Hitachi’s exit follows other American companies. Caterpillar (NYSE:), 3M Co. Deere (NYSE 🙂 and Honeywell(NASDAQ:).

Hitachi spokespeople said “We considered multiple factors such as the supply chain situation,” echoing Caterpillar.

Hitachi’s operations had been suspended in Russia by Hitachi following an order from the Ukrainian government.

Sony, which had previously stopped Russia’s releases of its movie “Gran Turismo 7”, suspended the global launch of the racing game. Rival Nintendo stated that it delayed worldwide release of “Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp”, an turn-based strategy video game featuring a military theme.

Food companies Nestle, Mondelez (NASDAQ:), Procter & Gamble (NYSE:) and Unilever (NYSE:) halted investment in Russia, but said they would continue providing essentials.

Coke and McDonald’s have stopped Russian sales, Yum Brands, the owner of KFC, has suspended investments and Hyatt, the hoteliers, said that they will suspend their development.

Japan’s Shiseido stopped exporting its cosmetics to Russia, from Europe.

While Apple and Ford have both condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by NASDAQ (NASDAQ:), other companies like Toyota the Japanese automaker have decided to remain neutral, attributing Russia’s production halts to logistical issues.

Russia has been isolated by Western sanctions, even though shippers have stopped routes. Leaders of the European Union plan to reduce their dependence on Russia’s energy.

This war has now entered its third week.

It has demolished the rouble and roiled stock market, and the prices of oil have shot up, adding to the global inflation, which was already rising before the conflict started.

PLAY IN RUBLES

Russia intends to make local airlines pay in rubles to lease aircraft and to ban them from returning airplanes to foreign owners if they end up cancelling the lease. According to the draft law that was published Thursday,

Moscow calls this war “special military operations” and has warned that it could nationalize idle foreign assets as a retaliation for Western sanctions.

Rio Tinto owns a 80% share in Rusal’s joint venture and Rio Tinto said that it is “in the process” of ending all commercial relations it had with Russian businesses.

Anglo-Australian company’s top executives said earlier that the firm was seeking alternative fuel sources to power its Mongolian operations at Oyu Tolgoi but they did not think it would stop purchasing from Russia.

Rio may continue to purchase Russian fuel from non-Russian third parties, but it was unclear at the time.

Rio rival BHP said earlier in the week that the war was having “dramatic impacts” on it business. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but on Thursday, BHP stated it would look into terminating any Russian business relations.

Eni, an Italian energy company, has suspended its purchase of Russian oil and stated that it is closely monitoring developments in gas procurement.

Eni had previously frozen joint ventures to Russian oil company Rosneft after the 2014 sanctions.

The United States has banned Russian oil imports since Tuesday.

Western sanctions are also targeting banks and billionaires. According to Reuters reports, the European Commission has prepared new sanctions against further Russian oligarchs as well three Belarusian bankers.

Citigroup (NYSE:) stated that it will operate its Russian consumer business in a limited manner while continuing to pursue its plan for divesting the franchise.

Experts predict that banks will find it more difficult than other businesses to get out of Russia. This is because it’s hard for them to leave behind lending obligations and any other financial claims.