According to a list compiled by Yale University, up to 522 companies have publicly declared that they are or have already voluntarily discontinued their Russian operations due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Netflix, McDonald’s, Ford, PwC, Ernst & Young, Shell, Adidas, LVMH, and Vodafone are among the top companies on this list. Indian companies Tata Steel and Canara Bank are also on the list.
The following list of Western businesses that have decided to remain in or leave Russia includes:
Volkswagen sealed a deal on Friday to sell its Russian operations, including its 4,000-employee facility in the western city of Kaluga, to a company backed by Russian dealer Avilon
A lawsuit filed by the Russian automaker GAZ caused months of delay in the arrangement. It produced automobiles under a contract with VW until the collaboration was broken in May 2022, according to the German business.
VW still needs to deal with the lawsuits even if it has sold its Russia operation.
Owner of KFC Yum! In March 2022, the brands left Russia, and some restaurants changed their names to Rostic’s, a defunct post-Soviet brand.
Timofey Sosnovsky, a 33-year-old teacher, said at a recently reopened Moscow store where guests tucked into familiar red-and-white striped buckets of chicken and packs of nuggets, “The workers are welcoming, just as before.” I couldn’t tell the difference between Rostic’s and KFC’s.
After agreeing in August to sell its assets, including a sizable mill in the northern city of Syktyvkar, to billionaire Viktor Kharitonin’s Augment Investments Group for 95 billion rubles ($1.5 billion), Austrian forest products business Mondi is still awaiting clearance.
Additionally, Gotek Group’s December agreement to purchase three smaller Mondi packaging businesses still hasn’t been approved.
Stora Enso, another manufacturer of forest products, has turned over local management of its packaging facilities, but it is still awaiting authorization to sell off two smaller Russian logging firms.
Enel, an Italian energy business, agreed to sell some of its power plant holdings to Lukoil, a Russian oil company that has been subject to U.S. sanctions ever since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
Both Carl’s Jr. and Burger King, which are owned by CKE Restaurants and Restaurant Brands International respectively, are still operating in Moscow. Email inquiries were not answered by either business.
In a letter to staff members last year, RBI International President David Shear said that franchise agreements made it impossible to force the local operator to close down while the business attempted to sell its 15% stake in the joint venture in Russia. One of its partners was the state-owned VTB Bank’s investment division.
No legal provisions exist that permit us to unilaterally alter the contract, he claimed. This is also the reason why other brands with comparable structures may still be active in Russia. Any profits are being donated to the U.N.’s refugee agency.
The iconic Aperol liqueur is still produced by the Italian beverage corporation Campari Group, whose products are still sold in Russia.
The company has said that it would stop advertising and scale back operations to just what is necessary to pay its 118 Russian employees. An email requesting comment received no response from it.
The manufacturer of agricultural tractor tires Titan International, based in Quincy, Illinois, has retained a majority ownership interest in its Volgograd, Illinois, facility.
The Russia plant “serves a critical need of the global supply chain of food and agriculture,” CEO Paul Reitz said in a conference call with analysts. “We do continue to operate and follow all sanctions that are in place” and there is “no cash going in, no cash going out.”
He said that neither the Russian military nor the government are supplied by the company. According to its first-quarter results report, Turkey’s Anadolu Efes has introduced new goods in Russia, including an energy drink and a lager without alcohol.
