New Mexico has millions potentially tied to Russia

 

New Mexico has at least $16 million dollars placed in investment funds that may have ties to Russia. Now an Albuquerque senator is pushing for the state to give up those investments.

In a tweet Tuesday morning, New Mexico Senator Jacob Candelaria (DTS-Abq.) called for the state to divest from any investments in Russia. The tweet came the same day that President Joe Biden announced economic sanctions on the country.

“We should not be funding war crimes. Or enriching Putin,” Candelaria wrote in the tweet.

The New Mexico State Investment Council (SIC) is in charge of managing more than $34 billion of state funds. They invest public dollars “on behalf of the people of New Mexico,” according to their website. Candelaria is calling for a review of their holdings. But only a small portion of the funds have “exposure” to Russia, according to Charles Wollmann, the spokesperson for SIC.

Portions of that $7.9 million are tied up in index funds, such as the MSCI World ex USA IMI Custom Factor Index, according to Wollmann. Such funds are large investment baskets that invest in a number of different stocks or other underlying securities. In the case of these specific funds, some of those underlying securities may have varying levels of connections to Russian businesses...MORE