Three months after stopping business there as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Nike says it will completely leave the nation. In response to Moscow’s activities in Ukraine, the American sportswear company announced on March 3 that it would temporarily halt operations at all of its Nike-owned and -operated stores in Russia. It added that those currently open were run by independent partners.

It declared its intention to exit the nation entirely on Thursday, joining other well-known Western companies like Google and McDonald’s. In the upcoming weeks, new rules allowing Moscow to seize assets and apply criminal fines could be implemented, making it more difficult for foreign businesses to leave Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine. That has inspired some companies to leave more quickly.

The firm said in an emailed statement that “NIKE has made the decision to leave the Russian marketplace. Our priority is to ensure we are fully supporting our employees while we responsibly scale down our operations over the coming months.”

The decision is mostly symbolic for Nike, whose combined sales from Ukraine and Russia is less than 1%, rather than having a significant impact on its financial performance.

The company has a history of taking a stance on social and political issues, from last year when it dropped Brazilian soccer star Neymar for refusing to co-operate in an investigation into sexual assault allegations, to supporting American football quarterback Colin Kaepernick in his decision to kneel during the national anthem as a protest against racism. The largest franchisee in Russia, Inventive Retail Group (IRG), which runs 37 Nike-branded stores in the country through its subsidiary Up And Run, was reportedly not renewed by Nike, according to Russian media in May.

In U.S. premarket trade, Nike shares increased by about 1%.

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