The Russia-Ukraine conflict, which came to a new climax with the Russian invasion in February 2022, resulted in a series of economic sanctions against the Russian Federation. The sanctions have so far been adopted in bundled packages. They are intended to deter companies from conducting business with the Russian Federation through targeted measures to weaken it economically. This paper aims to find out how companies that continue to do business in the Russian Federation despite sanctions have performed related to stock prices compared to those that have withdrawn. Based on an event study approach, the relevant companies were identified using the Yale CELI list of Companies and categorized into different portfolios. The portfolios were tested based on several events based on the publication of the known EU sanctions packages, considering various estimation periods. The results show that European companies that suspended their business activities in the Russian Federation performed relatively better than their counterparts. However, industrial and geographical factors have an overall impact on our results. Moreover, our results indicate that investors interpret the CELI list as an ESG-equivalent signal. Our results provide insights into the financial effects of companies affected by sanctions and thus offer implications for the portfolio management of both professional and non-professional investors and policymakers.