Hochul Orders New York to Stop Business with Russia, Invites Ukrainian Refugees – NBC New York

What you should know

• New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on Sunday barring the state from doing business with Russia.
• The governor also said that New York will welcome Ukrainian refugees in response to Russia’s invasion.
• The governor’s executive order means the state “will not allow its own investment activity, either directly or indirectly, to aid Russia as it commits these atrocities and human rights violations.”

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New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on Sunday that bars the state from doing business with Russia, including canceling its investments there.

The governor also said New York will welcome Ukrainian refugees in response to Russia’s invasion, noting at a news conference in Albany that the state is home to the largest Ukrainian population in the US.

“We have said that we will open our hearts, our homes, our resources to the people of Ukraine, to say: ‘We are with you,’” Hochul said. Federal estimates show that about 140,000 of the more than 1 million people in the US who report Ukrainian ancestry live in New York.

“If you need a place to stay, you want to come here, we’ll help you integrate into our community,” he said, “since we’ve been open to so many other refugees in the past, including more recently from Afghanistan.”

Governor Hochul did not immediately elaborate on the state’s economic sanctions against Moscow, but noted that New York’s economy is larger than Russia’s.

The governor’s executive order means the state “will not allow its own investment activity, either directly or indirectly, to aid Russia as it commits these atrocities and human rights violations.”

Ukraine has filed a case in the United Nations highest court accusing Russia of plotting genocide.

“We strongly condemn the action of Putin and Russia for this unprovoked attack that is now causing atrocities against innocent human beings, and that is not tolerable,” Hochul said.

The New York sanctions follow those issued by President Joe Biden last week against Russia’s financial system. Biden said the United States will block the assets of Russia’s big banks, impose export controls aimed at the nation’s high-tech needs and sanction its trade oligarchs.

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