By Bianca Flowers

(Reuters) -Harley-Davidson Inc announced Tuesday that it has suspended business operations and shipments to Russia of its bicycles following the invasion of Ukraine last Wednesday.

This attack was the most significant in Europe since World War Two. Many Western companies, such as General Motors Co (NYSE) and Germany’s Daimler OTC: Truck Holding AG have stopped operations in Russia.

As the Ukraine crisis escalates, shares of the motorbike giant plunged 3% during afternoon trading. This was in line with Wall Street’s main indexes.

Harley didn’t respond to my request for more information about the suspension and the scale of its Russian operations.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian President has been captured riding a Harley-Davidson (NYSE 🙂 bike and was part of a group of motorcyclers in Ukraine in 2010.

Milwaukee’s Harley is the second largest market in Europe for bike retail sales after the United States.

Russia’s Harley-Davidson dealer networks make up only about a third of their broader network. With roughly 10 dealers in Russia, Chris Hodson is a senior analyst at Edgewater Research.

Harley claims that it operates 369 dealers in Europe, the second largest market for Harley after the United States.

Hodson indicated that Bikes originally planned to ship to Russia may be rerouted if the company has strong demand.

Hodson stated that Russia isn’t a very important market. Hodson stated that units which were earmarked to Russia could be used elsewhere.

Canadian auto-parts maker Magna International (NYSE:), which includes six factories and employs approximately 2,500 people in Russia, announced that operations are running at the moment and will continue to monitor.