STOCKHOLM: IKEA, the world's biggest furniture brand, is closing all its stores in Russia, and pausing all its sourcing in Russia and Belarus, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The war has both a huge human impact and is resulting in serious disruptions to supply chain and trading conditions, which is why the company groups have decided to temporarily pause IKEA operations in Russia," Brand owner Inter IKEA and store owner Ingka Group said in a joint statement on Thursday.

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Inter IKEA is in charge of supply, and Ingka Group owns most IKEA stores worldwide, including all 17 in Russia.

In the year through last August, Russia was IKEA's 10th-biggest market with retail sales of 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) or 4% total retail sales.

Belarus is purely a sourcing market for IKEA, it has no stores in the country.