News: RIO UPDATE 1-Rio Tinto to end commercial relationships with Russian businesses

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March 10 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto RIO.L (RIO) on Thursday became the latest corporation to cut ties with Moscow saying it was ending all commercial relations with Russian businesses.

"Rio Tinto is in the process of terminating all commercial relationships it has with any Russian business," a Rio spokesman said in a message sent to Reuters.

The announcement from the Anglo-Australian firm comes after a top executive said the company was looking for alternative fuel sources for its Mongolian copper operations at Oyu Tolgoi but did not believe it can stop buying from Russia altogether.

The company did not immediately respond to questions on whether it would continue to buy Russian fuel and other products through non-Russian third parties.

Russia has been hit by Western sanctions and the withdrawal of foreign firms since its invasion of Ukraine began on Feb 24. Russia describes its actions as a "special operation" to disarm its neighbour and dislodge leaders it calls "neo-Nazis".

Leading U.S. companies like McDonald's, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Starbucks stopped trading with Russia this week, offering a united rebuke of the war on Ukraine.

Earlier, Royal Dutch Shell Plc RDSa.L stopped buying oil from Russia and said it would cut links to the country entirely while the United States stepped up its campaign to punish Moscow by banning Russian oil and energy imports. (([email protected]; +6448028163; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]; Twitter: https://twitter.com/Journopraveen))