Toyota will temporarily suspend the work of the plant in St. Petersburg

Toyota will temporarily suspend the work of the plant in St. Petersburg. This is reported by TASS with reference to the press service of the company.

Production will be suspended on March 4 due to delays and interruptions in the supply of components for RAV4 and Camry vehicles. The timing of the resumption of production cannot be predicted by the company.

Earlier it became known about the temporary suspension of another St. Petersburg plant – Hyundai. However, production there will start again on March 9.

Recall that the Japanese automakers Honda and Mazda had previously decided to stop the export of cars to Russia. Honda, which does not have its own enterprise in the Russian Federation, has stopped exporting cars, motorcycles and engines from the US and Japan to Russia. In turn, Mazda will stop supplying parts to the plant in Vladivostok, which assembles finished cars.

The companies explained that the stoppage of exports is associated with the depreciation of the ruble and the rupture of supply chains, which hinders further production.

Recall that on February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), and on February 24 he made an emergency appeal to the Russians and announced a special military operation in Donbass. In his speech, he stated that “circumstances require decisive action from Russia” and stressed that “Russia will not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons.”

In response to Russia’s actions, Western countries (USA, Canada, European Union, Great Britain, Japan) announced new, tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation, including financial and economic ones.

In particular, Russian banks fell under the sanctions, including Sberbank, VTB, Novikombank, FC Otkritie and Sovcombank, and for a number of state-owned companies it was difficult to attract foreign capital.

Later, the EU countries and the United States agreed to disconnect Russian banks that fell under sanctions from the international system of interbank transactions and information exchange SWIFT. In addition, it was decided to freeze the assets of the Bank of Russia, which will create difficulties for its use of international reserves. EU countries also pledged to take steps to limit the sale of citizenship — the so-called “golden passports” that allow wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government to become citizens of EU states and gain access to their financial systems.

You can follow the chronicle of events around Ukraine on March 2 here.