Vast majority of global corporations continue operations in Russia, says President's Office
Mykhailo Podolyak (Photo:www.president.gov.ua)
Only 9% of the nearly 1,500 global companies operating in Russia quit the country following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, advisor to the Head of the President’s Office Mykhailo Podolyak said in a Telegram post on Feb. 11.
Almost a year after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, less than 150 global corporations have left the Russian market.
"Among the Western companies that have remained in Russia, the largest share is German (19.5%), 12.4% — American, and 7% — Japanese,” Podolyak wrote.
“The following companies continue working in the terrorist state: METRO, Leroy Merlin, Auchan, Nestle, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Bayer, Acer, Alibaba, CloudFlare, Societe Generale, Credit Suisse, Lenovo, Asus, Cersanit, etc.", Podolyak wrote.
He also noted that some Western banks "have made superprofits in Russia during the year of full-scale war." In particular, Raiffeisen Bank increased its profits in Russia by 313%.
"In 2022, the profit of the Russian branch amounted to EUR 474 million ($506 million), and this is the largest amount among the branches of Southeast Europe," the advisor to the head of the President's Office noted.
Podolyak said that in the last fiscal year, the Russian treasury received EUR 94.8 million ($101.2 million) in income tax alone.
"The amount of other fees is much higher,” he said.
“That is, this is a tax on the war, on the killing of Ukrainians. Moreover, Raiffeisen has recognized the pseudo-republics of Luhansk and Donetsk by offering the ‘partially mobilized’ people a loan repayment holiday.”
Podolyak added that Raiffeisen's example was followed by Citibank, Credit Europe Bank and OTP Bank.
The advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief-of-staff noted that by operating in Russia, international companies pay taxes to the Russian state budget, and that money is used to manufacture products for the defense industry. The total annual revenue of these 1,200+ companies in Russia is almost $290 billion. According to Podolyak, this is a fifth of Russia's GDP.
Earlier, NV reported that the National Agency on Corruption Prevention recognized P&G Corporation as an international sponsor of war because of its continued operations in Russia.
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