ZURICH (Reuters – The Russian business of Sulzer, a Swiss engineering company has been put up for sale. This is part of the Western sanctions on Moscow’s incursion into Ukraine.

Sales will commence immediately on Tuesday, without further information. According to a spokesperson, all options are open including the possibility of a local buyout.

It had previously announced it was cutting back on business in Russia. The country has 300 employees. Russia represented 2.7% of the group’s sales of 3.2 million Swiss francs (3.33 billion USD) by 2021.

The board stated, “After decades of operation in Russia, the board regrets having to take this decision, but has carefully considered all possible solutions and concluded that it is the best for all stakeholders.”

The 2018 purchase of 5,000,000 shares by shareholder Viktor Vekselberg was made by the Swiss pumpmaker. It brought Russia’s holdings below the threshold of 50% where U.S. sanctioned Vladimir Putin’s inner circle were at that time in force.

This month, the Polish government placed sanctions on Vekselberg and it began to shut down business.

Sulzer has resisted the Polish decision because the company believes that the sanctions against Poland are unjust, considering Vekselberg doesn’t have any control over group businesses.

($1 = 0.9620 Swiss francs)