[Translation prepared by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

Western multinationals with billions of dollars trapped in Russia, 3 October 2023

When the war in Ukraine began in February 2022, many Western companies operating in Russia left the country.

Others, however, stayed.

Those that continue to operate in Russia have generated “billions of dollars in profits” according to a study by the Kiev School of Economics (KSE).

However, the investigation indicates, the Kremlin prevents them from accessing that money as a way to put pressure on nations considered “hostile.”

The study center's estimate is that some 700 companies from countries not aligned with Moscow obtained a profitability of close to US$20,375 million in 2022, a figure higher than the profits they achieved before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A great profitability that became a double-edged sword because the funds are blocked.

“Many Western companies waited too long to leave Russia and, at that time, the authorities did everything possible to reduce the departure of companies,” the KSE's deputy director of development, Andrii Onopriienko, tells BBC Mundo.

Most of the firms with locked-in profits are based in the United States, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, according to KSE data.

The “top ten” of the list is headed by the companies Raiffeisen, Philip Morris, Pepsi, Japan Tobacco International and Automobile.

The ranking is completed by Mars, Mondelez, KIA Motors, Imperial Energy Corporation and Procter & Gamble.

“Everything that was earned in Russia will stay there, since the authorities will not allow the repatriation of dividends and will nationalise the most attractive assets,” adds the Ukrainian researcher...

Moscow considers that trade measures such as freezing funds are completely justified given that Western-aligned countries have imposed economic sanctions on Russia and blocked financial assets of Russian individuals and companies abroad...