The Church of England has ditched all £20 million of its investments in Russian companies in response to what the archbishops of Canterbury and York described as Vladimir Putin’s “act of evil” in Ukraine.

Church leaders have also called for an end to the “immoral flood of corrupt money” from Russia into Britain.

As a direct result of the invasion, the church confirmed to The Times today that it was immediately selling its investments in Russian firms and had issued a ban on any further investment.

Through the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board, the church has a portfolio of £13 billion in investments, with its largest holdings in companies including Meta (formerly Facebook), Amazon, Google’s parent company Alphabet and Samsung.

A spokesman said: “In response to the attack on Ukraine by Russia and supporting the sanctions announced by the UK and other governments . . . the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board issued instructions to our managers to exit all of our current direct holdings in Russian companies and to make no further investments in Russian companies.