
In the months since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, nearly 1,000 Western companies have partially or fully curtailed their operations within the Russian Federation. On the surface, this is unsurprising: Russia has been the target of an unprecedented sanctions package by the West, and it is natural that corporate ties will be reduced during a period of economic warfare. The remarkable thing here is not that these companies have left Russia, but that they did so voluntarily: Rather than being compelled to do so by their governments, these companies unilaterally chose to go above and beyond the minimums required by the Western sanctions program.