Institute of Directors calls on Britons to quit Russian boards
A leading business lobby group has called on British directors to resign from the boards of Russian companies to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
The Institute of Directors said the war in Ukraine meant it was “untenable” for British directors to remain on the boards of Russian companies, adding that any directors of Belarusian firms should also quit.
In a similar call, the IoD’s sister organisation, the European Confederation of Directors’ Associations, said all company bosses should go further and “reconsider their investment strategies as well as the operational processes in Russia and Belarus”.
It said companies could not adopt a business-as-usual approach “when the war in Ukraine violates international rules”.
Since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine last week, western governments and businesses have suspended trade with Russia and sanctioned Russian banks and several commercial businesses. Meanwhile, companies and their executive directors have come under intense pressure to review their relationships with Russian and Belarusian businesses.
The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has urged the Conservative peer and former minister Greg Barker to quit his lucrative role on the board of the Russian aluminium firm EN+, whose owners include the oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Barker, a climate change minister in David Cameron’s government, earned $4m (£3m) last year as executive chair of the firm, and was credited by chief executive Vladimir Kiryukhin with devising a plan to persuade US officials to lift sanctions levelled against the company and Deripaska in 2018.
Wallace said: “He should quit,” adding, “I think Lord Barker should explain why he works with people like Deripaska.”
Barker said: “Of course I
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