'More investors join Russia exodus, find it hard to leave', Reuters, 28 February 2022

Exodus of capital from Russia has accelerated since Ukraine was invaded last week, as the West scales up sanctions against the government of President Vladimir Putin in response to its 'special operation' in the country.

Latest to head to the exit was Norway's largest pension fund KLP, which said it planned to sell around $56 million worth of Russian stocks, and the Church of England, which said it had asked its fund managers to sell out of Russian stocks last week.

Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP, which manages around $80 billion in assets, said it had already sold out of Russian stocks and bonds listed in London and was doing the same in New York.

"For assets listed in Moscow, it is of course not possible to sell right now," Aziz told Reuters, referring to a decision by the Russian central bank to freeze all trading on the Moscow stock exchange.

Euroclear said on Monday it has closed its link to rival settlement house Clearstream Banking for settling trades in Russian securities in response to European Union financial sanctions...

Also pledging to buy no more Russian assets on Monday was Britain's Universities Superannuation Scheme, the country's largest private pension scheme with around $120 billion in assets...

The decision by more asset owners to take a stand follows news over the weekend that Norway's $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, planned to do the same, and as the New York City Comptroller said he was reviewing assets for possible divestment.