In light of the Russia-Ukraine war, leading auction houses are pausing their Russian art sales and don’t have plans to participate in Russian Art Week this summer.

Iran Press/America: The business decision has been made largely to comply with the sanctions that have been put on Russia following its operation in Ukraine.

"Sotheby’s conducts business in strict compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including global sanctions," a spokesperson for Sotheby’s, a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City, wrote in an email to FOX Business.

The British-founded fine art auctioneer went on to note that it maintains "a small administrative office in Moscow," which is now closed. 

As the Russian operation in Ukraine entered its 26th day, Russia gave Ukraine an ultimatum to surrender Mariupol, warning that the southeastern port city is experiencing “a terrible humanitarian catastrophe.”

Russian and Ukrainian delegations have held multiple rounds of peace talks without any major progress thus far.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated a willingness to concede on a key Russian demand, saying Ukraine must “accept” it will not be able to join NATO, though Ukraine has maintained it won’t agree to Russia’s demand of Ukraine becoming a neutral country like Austria and Sweden.

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