CSO coalition urges companies engaged in business with Russia to take immediate steps in response to ongoing war against Ukraine, incl. cos. responses & non-responses
Russia’s unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine has had an unprecedented response from companies with operations or investments in Russia and/or Ukraine. As of January 2023, more than 160 companies completely exited Russia, more than 700 suspended operations and around 450 withdrew from the market. At the same time, over 1200 businesses maintain their operations in Russia, according to KSE Institute database).
On September 21, President Vladimir Putin announced partial mobilisation of the Russian population. The accompanying legislation obligates all organisations, including international companies, to assist the Russian Government with mobilisation efforts. These activities risk enabling and financing Russia’s violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during the ongoing invasion and occupation of Ukraine.
For this reason, B4Ukraine, a coalition of civil society organisations, reached out to companies that continue operations in Russia requesting an urgent dialogue regarding potential inconsistencies between their commitments on Russian aggression and human rights more broadly and their ongoing business operations and relationships in Russia that may contribute to, or be linked with, human rights harms.
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited 49 of those companies to respond. Raiffeisen Bank, HeidelbergCement, Fortum, Mars, Infosys, Glencore, Siemens Energy, PepsiCo, Danone, Barilla and Airbus responded. Schlumberger, JP Morgan, CISCO, Legrand, Liebherr, BNY Mellon, Johnson & Johnson, Calian Group, Tesla, DP Eurasia, Bonduelle, Elanco; IGP&I, Cargill, Philip Morris, Claas, Procter & Gamble, Dynacom Tankers, TMS Tankers, Minerva Marine, Thenamaris Ships Management, Auma, Haas Automation, Lenovo, Abbott, Abbvie, Accor, Afron, Eli Lilly, Guess, Harrods, Kimberly-Clark, JTI, OnlyFans, Kirei Chemical, Microsoft and Apple did not.
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited PepsiCo, Mars, Cargill and Procter & Gamble to respond to follow-up letters. Companies did not.
Company responses and non-responses are available below. We will indicate here if we receive any additional responses.