GM to shut Russian plant as sales slide

General Motors Co will shut its Russian factory and wind down its Opel brand in the country, taking a $600 million charge as it restructures its business to cope with a deepening downturn, the U.S. carmaker said on Wednesday. After several years of growth in excess of 10 percent, car sales in Russia shrank in 2014 as the economy weakened because of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and a slide in oil prices. The U.S. carmaker said it would stop production at its St. Petersburg plant whic