Biotech firm Genetico raises $2.2 million in first Russian IPO this year

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian biotech firm Genetico raised 178 million roubles ($2.2 million) on Tuesday in an IPO on the Moscow Exchange - only the second Russian stock market launch since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last year.

An unprecedented package of Western sanctions and Russian countermeasures have effectively cut Russia's financial markets off from Western capital over the last 14 months and forced many Russian firms who were looking to go public to reconsider.

Genetico, a subsidiary of the Human Stem Cells Institute, sold 10 million shares - representing 12% of the company's total equity - for 17.88 roubles ($0.2192) a piece in its IPO on Tuesday, the company said in a statement.

($1 = 81.5455 roubles)

(Reporting by Olga Popova; Writing by Jake Cordell; Editing by Gareth Jones)