Opinion: To end Ukraine conflict, Western companies must exit Russia
18 August 2023
...The White House has provided significant materiel to the Ukrainian military. But excess American tanks and aid workers aren’t the only things that will affect the outcome of this bloody conflict: American and multinational corporations may yet determine how long this conflict endures.
...Operating in Russia means maintaining relations with a belligerent actor. Western companies that remain in Russia are financing the targeting of maternity wards, apartment complexes and key civilian evacuation routes in Ukraine.
After the invasion, over 1,000 companies publicly announced plans to curtail operations within Russia to some degree. But many producers of consumer goods — soap, cookies, coffee — remain committed to operating in Russia.
According to the Kyiv School of Economics, only 17% of nearly 1,400 Western companies with Russian subsidiaries have exited Russia since February 2022. Moscow earned nearly a quarter of its profit tax in 2022 from corporations headquartered in the countries of the Group of Seven...
Disappointingly, American corporations are by far the biggest contributors to the Kremlin’s coffers through tax profit, furnishing $712 million in 2022 alone.
Some American companies have even doubled down on their commitment to the Russian market since the invasion. Mondelez International, producer of Oreos and Clif Bars, enjoyed record profit last year while underwriting Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption has officially designated the snacking company an “international sponsor of war.” In response to a growing wave of boycotts, Mondelez has announced its intention to establish a stand-alone business in Russia but has shared scant details.
Prominent brands such as Levi’s, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Whirlpool, Ford and Sony Music Group have said do svidaniya to the Russian market. Employees, shareholders and consumers of these companies can rest easier knowing that their investments are not supporting the establishment of prison colonies and detention centers in occupied Ukrainian territory...
Political leaders and civil society must dissuade the companies and firms headquartered in our communities from operating in Russia. Institutional and retail investors should interrogate their holdings and divest from corporations that bankroll Putin’s war crimes and annexation. They should demand transparency into corporations’ business practices. Consumers and wholesale buyers must vote with their feet and boycott products and services from corporations who refuse to exit Russia.
To be sure, leaving the Russian market may bring financial losses to some companies. However, such losses will be incomparable to the long-term harm caused by continuous armed conflict in Europe and potentially beyond...