Klaus Zellmer, the CEO of Skoda Auto, a Czechoslovakian unit of Germany’s Volkswagen, announced his company is close to closing a deal to finalize its exit from Russia and sell off all of its assets in the country.

The exit has cost Skoda almost €700 million ($742 million), due to Western sanctions causing disruptions in logistics chains, as well as the fact exports to Russia of cars and the spare parts to service them, were also stopped.

Zellmer said in a statement to reporters, “The Volkswagen Group has analyzed various scenarios for the future of our business options in Russia,” adding that “the preferred option is to sell the assets of Volkswagen Group Russia… to a third party.”

Although he refused to give details on the negotiations until a deal is agreed to by all parties, he did say the talks were in their “final stages.”

Shortly after the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia, Skoda suspended all production at its two factories in Kaluga and Nizhny Novgorod. The company had manufactured 780,000 vehicles in 2022. The Kaluga production facility was capable of producing 225,000 vehicles per year, among them the Volkswagen Tiguan, Volkswagen Polo, and Skoda Rapid.

Official data showed that production last year plummeted in Russia, to 18,300 vehicles, down from the 90.400 deliveries in 2021.

Net profits fell 11.7% to €489 million in 2022, as global supply chain disruptions and sharp increases in the costs of raw materials drove costs upward.