Only 9% of almost 1,500 global companies have left the Russian market during nearly a year of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, said on February 11, 2023, Suspilne reported.
Who stayed
Among Western companies still operating in Russia, German firms make up 19.5%, American firms 12.4% and Japanese firms 7%, Podolyak said in a Telegram post. He named METRO, Leroy Merlin, Nestlé, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, Pfizer and Philip Morris among those that had stayed.
Raiffeisen
Podolyak singled out Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank, saying its Russian unit earned €474 million in 2022, a 313% increase, and that the 20% profit tax alone added about €94.8 million to Russia’s budget.
He also said Raiffeisen, Citibank, Credit Europe Bank and OTP Bank recognised documents of the self-proclaimed “LNR” and “DNR” and offered loan holidays to Russians called up in the partial mobilisation. He cited a recent decision by Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention to name Procter & Gamble an international sponsor of the war.
Unconfirmed source
Podolyak did not name the source of the 9% figure. The claims, presented in his post, were not independently verified.
Ukraine has repeatedly urged foreign companies to leave Russia, arguing that the taxes they pay help finance the war.
Sources
Image note: The featured image was generated by AI based on the content of this article. It is an illustration, not an actual photograph of the people, places or events described.
