Lego has canceled its contract with the operator of its 81 stores in Russia, franchisee Inventive Retail Group (IRG) announced on Tuesday, a move that could signal the end of Lego's activities in Russia.

IRG, which also handles stores for Nike and Samsung in Russia, acknowledged that the contract with Lego had been canceled.

Tuesday morning, the Russian edition of Inc. Magazine claimed that Lego would cease all commercial activity in Russia and terminate its contract with IRG.

Inc. quoted lego Russia Chief Executive Evgeny Chikhachev as saying, "Given the ongoing significant disruptions to the operating environment, we have decided to stop commercial activity in Russia indefinitely,"

This involves the termination of a significant amount of our Moscow staff and our collaboration with Inventive Retail Group. Lego did not reply to a request for comment immediately.

A representative for IRG stated, "Our company will continue to work as an expert in the toy design and development category."

Due to supply concerns, Lego halted shipments to Russia in March and announced in June that it was temporarily freezing several outlets.

In recent weeks, companies such as Nike and Cisco have announced their exits from Russia as the rate of Western firms departing accelerates, following Russia's "special operation" in Ukraine in February.