Feb 24, 2023
Last March, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy challenged Americans to ensure that Russia receives not a single penny to fund its war. As we marked one year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and nine since the invasion and illegal annexation of Crimea, the business of ending U.S. corporate complicity in Russian aggression and crimes against humanity in Ukraine is far from finished.
• 314 US companies continue to operate within Russia, more than from any other G7 country.
- These companies paid $8 billion in taxes to Russia in 2021 — enough to fund Putin’s war against Ukraine for a month.
- Of the US companies that had a local Russian subsidiary at the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, only 32, or 13%, have completed the liquidation or sale of their Russian business.
B4Ukraine demands an end to all US corporate complicity and is calling on the Biden Administration to immediately issue an advisory to inform individuals, businesses, financial institutions, and other persons — including investors, consultants, and research service providers — of the heightened risks associated with doing business in Russia, and particularly business activity that could benefit the Russian military.
Every second Swiss company keeps doing business with Russia. While some prominent Swiss brands such as Zurich Insurance have completely exited, there are numerous examples of those choosing to remain in Russia. Amongst those are the world’s largest food and beverage firm Nestlé, an agricultural giant Syngenta Group and a chemicals corporation Ems-Chemie, to mention a few.
66% of the French firms which had ties to Russia at the start of 2022 continue to do business with the country. Consumer goods and energy, oil and gas companies have been particularly slow to leave. Notable examples include Leroy Merlin and Auchan. There have also been some consequential French exits — such as Societe Generale and Renault.
69% of the German firms which had ties to Russia at the start of 2022 continue to do business within the country. The supermarket chain Metro AG and one of the largest manufacturers of building materials in the world Knauf are amongst the most recognizable German brands still operating in Russia.
Every week B4Ukraine reaches out to companies that continue operations in Russia to ask for a dialogue about the company’s ongoing business operations and relationships in Russia that may contribute to, or be linked with, human rights harms. We also try to send letters to all companies who exit the market.