Around £4 million in pension fund investments have been written down to nil as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Suffolk County Council has confirmed.
And Norfolk County Council has said its investment managers are working to divest its from the elements of the Norfolk Pension Fund which are linked to Russian and Belarusian assets.
Those were valued at £12.5m pre-invasion, some 0.25pc of the total £5bn value of the Pension Fund.
That fund contains the retirement savings of some 90,000 people across more than 400 Norfolk organisations.
Norfolk County Council leader Andrew Proctor said at a cabinet meeting on Monday: "Our exposure to Russian investments was small pre-invasion and is smaller now. We are actively working on disinvesting in such funds."
A spokesman for the council, which manages the fund, added: "The pension fund have confirmed that the investment managers used by the fund are working to exit the existing positions in Russian assets in an orderly manner, when this becomes possible."
Companies the fund has exposure to are oil and gas firms Lukoli, Rosneft, Gazprom, financial services Sberbank, TCS Group, chemicals company Phosagro and Novolipetsk Steel.
Meanwhile, Suffolk County Council confirmed one of its emerging market investments with UBS had exposure to Russian stocks, which were valued at £4m at the end of December.
It is understood that includes £900,000 in Gazprom – the Russian-owned energy supplier the authority last week confirmed it would be severing ties with.
The financial sanctions imposed by nations globally on the trading of Russian stocks has meant that the value of those funds is now nil, the council said.
Karen Soons, Conservative chair of the Suffolk pension fund committee, said: “As a direct result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, trading on the Russian stock exchange has been suspended and Russian stocks will be removed from the index.
“The Russian holdings were valued in December 2021 at £4m and are now regarded as nil. The proceeds from any eventual sales are expected to benefit the fund.
“Whilst this does represent a 0.1pc loss, it should be seen in the context of the overall strong performance of the Suffolk pension fund.”
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