Aviva will sell off its Russian equity investments as quickly as possible in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine.

The Norwich-based insurance firm has revealed that just 0.1pc of its Aviva funds invested in Russian equities, but Amanda Blanc, chief executive, said the firm wants to offload these "as soon as we practically can.”

Aviva's announcement comes at a time when UK pension schemes are looking at the levels of any direct and indirect holdings they have in their investment portfolios and taking action to comply with sanctions.

It said that its Russian holdings, which are made via its fund management arms Aviva Investors, are not affected by sanctions imposed on Russia.

Along with Aviva, pension firms Legal & General, Abrdn and Nest have revealed that they will try to sell their holdings in Russian stocks.

The UK has joined countries across the world and placed sanctions against Russia to punish it for its invasion of Ukraine.

Part of these include the exclusion of many Russian banks from the Swift payments network, which has made it difficult for foreign businesses to get rid of their investments.

These sanctions are designed to have maximum impact on Russia, but they could also hit the UK, especially if they lead to further disruption of oil and gas exports.

Already the price of oil has rocketed, passing $111 a barrel. In response to this the US, along with 30 countries, have decided to release about 60m barrels from their strategic reserves in an attempt to stabilise the global energy market.

Although global stock markets have been volatile since the invasion, Richard Ross from Chadwicks Ltd said that investors should not panic as the global markets should recover in the medium-term.

He did, however, warn that pensioners who depend on investments for their income, for example who have pension drawdown, should be very careful about how much they take and it was "important" for people to sit down and talk with their financial advisor.