Arendt’s statement on the war in Ukraine

We strongly condemn the actions of the Russian government. Arendt stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and all those affected by the war. Our thoughts are with all those who find themselves caught unwillingly in an armed conflict. We also stand with the Russian people who oppose their government’s illegal invasion of the Ukraine and all the lawyers who are defending the rule of law in the region.

We had already stopped working for individuals associated with President Putin’s Russia after the invasion of south-eastern Ukraine in 2014, but now we have decided to take a further step.

In support of the above objectives, we have taken the following decisions.

• We have decided to pull out of Russia and close our office in Moscow.
  We have shut our office down with immediate effect and permanently on Monday 28 February evening and our staff has left the office since.
  
  
• We have further decided that we will not accept new mandates from Russia.
  This includes not only the Russian state, Russian state-owned enterprises or entities controlled by, or under the influence of, the Russian state, or connected with the current Russian regime, wherever they are in the world, but also more generally any work from Russia.
  
  
• We will wind down and stop our involvement on currently active matters from Russia in accordance with our legal and professional obligations and we have started to inform our clients of this.
  
  
• We are currently reviewing all existing mandates relating to Russia, or where there is a connection to Russia, to ensure that our work remains consistent with the spirit of the above and also with Arendt’s principles and values.

We will continue to assist international clients in dealing with the implications of the current crisis and in unwinding their Russian business interests.

These decisions go far beyond what is required to comply with our legal, regulatory and professional obligations, and reflect our values as a firm and the wider responsibilities of the global business community.

We are supporting charities, in particular UNICEF, which are actively helping the victims of the war in Ukraine in order to ensure that help arrives where it is needed most.

As the refugee situation develops over the coming weeks, we commit to help also in this regard.

Standing together has always been our greatest strength, and we are reminded of this every day.