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Arrival, the British electric vehicle manufacturer founded by a former Russian government minister, is closing its Russian operations and has no plans to operate there in the future, one of its top executives has said.
Tom Elvidge, product manager, revealed the move on Wednesday in the Financial Times. The future of the car conference in London.
The company was founded by Denis Sverdlov, a businessman who was Russia’s deputy communications and mass media minister under President Vladimir Putin for 15 months until his resignation in 2013. Although he has spent most of his adult life in Russia, Sverdlov, who is still CEO. , was born in Georgia.
The arrival was valued at $ 13.6 billion when it was listed on the US Nasdaq exchange in March last year. The company develops “micro factories” in the UK and US and is focused on building electric trucks, buses and cars.
Asked whether the company could face sanctions due to Sverdlov’s links to Putin, Elvidge stressed that Sverdlov opposed the war and that the company moved its Russian operations to Georgia.
Elvidge said Arrival had “a team” in Russia but did not specify the nature of the operations there.
“Denis has spoken publicly and made his statements very clear that he is against [the war]”, said Elvidge.
Arrival had relocated its staff from Russia to Georgia since Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, Elvidge said.
“We have now transported the majority of our team to Georgia,” Elvidge added. “We have established an office in Tbilisi.”
It would take “a few more months” to complete the transfer, Elvidge said.
“We do not plan to have any operations in Russia in the future,” he added.