BlackRock Inc. said on Friday the New York Stock Exchange Arca had suspended trading in the asset manager's iShares MSCI Russia exchange traded fund, following sanctions by Western governments against Russia after its military invasion of Ukraine.

BlackRock said it supported the move due to the ETF's concentrated exposure to Russian equities, the closure of the stock market in Moscow and MSCI's decision to remove Russian securities from its indexes.

Earlier this week, a top executive at equity index provider MSCI termed Russia's stock market as "uninvestable" after stringent Western sanctions and central bank curbs on trading.

BlackRock said it will update clients on future developments related to the ETF.