(Moscow) One of Moscow’s most luxurious hotels, the Ritz-Carlton, with its stunning view of Red Square, was renamed Carlton Moscow on Monday after its parent company, Marriott International, suspended operations in Russia over of the offensive against Ukraine.
Posted at 6:59
Located on Moscow’s central avenue, Tverskaya, and boasting a bird’s eye view of the Kremlin, its gardens and Red Square, the hotel has a new logo and website, but no announcement has been made regarding a financial transaction.
It will operate “as an independent hotel”, according to a press release quoted by the Russian agencies, while it was previously operated by Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, a subsidiary of the Marriott group.
In March, the hotel giant had closed its offices and frozen its new projects, then on June 3 it announced that it was suspending all its operations on the Russian market, judging it “impossible” to operate because of “restrictions announced by the United States. United, the UK and the EU” in recent months to punish Russia for its assault on Ukraine.
This departure adds to a long list of Western giants who have withdrawn from Russia since it attacked its neighbor. Among them, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Nike, Starbucks or Renault.
The effects of the sanctions on Russia are still difficult to assess, but sectors employing hundreds of thousands of Russians are already affected by serious logistical and financial problems.
The Russian authorities, for their part, consider that the country has withstood the sanctions well, and that it is, on the contrary, the European countries, because of their energy dependence on Russia, which will suffer the most economically as a result of their own punitive measures.