Hundreds of Western companies that previously announced they were leaving Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine have given up from such plans and continue to do business in the Russian Federation, reported the newspaper Financial Times.
there are several reasons that forced them to reconsider the decision. Among them are “increasing user activity and bureaucratic obstacles”. In particular, we are talking about a discount on assets from unfriendly countries and additional taxes when leaving Russia.
„Many European companies find themselves between a rock and a hard place”, the newspaper quoted the words of one of the executives working with Western companies in the country. "They said they were going to leave. They got a choice of buyers for their business, which turned out to be unacceptable to them”, he noted.
In total, according to the publication, more than 2,100 international companies have remained in Russia since 2022, including Avon Products, Air Liquide and Reckitt, Unilever, Nestl and Philip Morris. Approximately 1600 have either left the market or limited their activity in the Russian Federation.
As Dirk Van de Put, CEO of the American confectionery company Mondelez International, previously told the newspaper, the corporation will not leave Russia, it will continue to do business in the country, and its shareholders do not insist otherwise . According to him, the management is trying “not to enter into a confrontation or make loud statements, but simply to continue doing its work”. against the background of the fact that the Russian authorities do not want Western companies to leave the country.
In the current situation, as noted by the Financial Times, the views of the heads of Western companies have changed significantly and they are wondering whether it is necessary to leave the Russian Federation. Some of them “have built four or five factories in 30 years and will not sell them at a 90% discount”, the publication said.