Lego closes Russia business indefinitely, lays off 90 staff

Lego bricks logo is observed at a toy retail store in Bonn, Germany, September 5, 2017. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

MOSCOW/LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) – Lego is closing its business in Russia indefinitely and laying off its 90 Moscow-based mostly staff members, owing to “extensive disruption” in the country, the Danish toymaker claimed on Tuesday.

Lego has terminated its deal with franchisee Inventive Retail Group (IRG) which owned and operated 81 suppliers on Lego’s behalf.

IRG, which also operated outlets in Russia for Western brands these as Nike and Samsung, claimed earlier on Tuesday that the deal with Lego experienced been terminated.

“LEGO Group has made the decision to indefinitely cease business operations in Russia offered the continued comprehensive disruption in the functioning surroundings,” a Lego spokesperson stated.

An IRG spokesperson mentioned: “Our company will keep on to work as an qualified in the toy structure and progress class.”

Lego paused shipments to Russia in March and claimed in June it was briefly freezing some shops because of to offer difficulties. read additional

The Russian variation of Inc. Magazine described before on Tuesday that Lego was halting business actions in Russia indefinitely and breaking off its contract with IRG.

Corporations including Nike (NKE.N) and Cisco (CSCO.O) have announced their departures from Russia in the latest weeks as the rate of Western corporations leaving accelerates following Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February in what it terms a “specific procedure”. go through much more

Reporting by Reuters and Richa Naidu in London Editing by Jan Harvey and Bernadette Baum

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