The Manx government is going to try to sell off its Russian assets in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Treasury Minister David Ashford MBE says the Isle of Man Government has issued instructions to its investment managers to divest any Russian assets held, in light of the conflict in Ukraine.

Mr Ashford said: ’In view of the military invasion of Ukraine, a review has taken place of the investment portfolio to ensure the Isle of Man government identifies holdings of any Russian assets.

’Discussions with investment managers indicate these holdings constitute a very small proportion of the total portfolio, a fraction of 1%.’

Now there’s a big question of who might buy those assets from the Manx government at a time when the value of Russian investments has plummeted.

Mr Ashford’s announcement follows a statement from the Chief Minister in the House of Keys yesterday during which he confirmed that work was taking place ’to understand the island’s links to Russian persons and entities, and to understand the impact on the island of possible further UK sanctions measures’.

The Chief Minister told MHKs: ’We will work to ensure that we are not a weak link in international pressure on the Putin regime.’