Ukraine conflict: BP exit opens new front in West's campaign against Russia

Companies with Russian assets under pressure; some Russian banks shut out from SWIFT; EU, Canada, Britain shut airspace to Russia

BP opened a new front in the West's campaign to isolate Russia's economy by deciding to exit its Russian oil and gas investments, the most aggressive move yet by a company in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Western allies have ramped up efforts to punish Russia by closing airspace to Russian aircraft, shutting out some banks from the SWIFT financial network and limiting Moscow's ability to deploy its $630 billion foreign reserves, all measures that are expected to hammer the economy.

The rouble plunged as much as 30% to an all-time low against the dollar on Monday, prompting the central bank