Western businesses backtrack on their Russia exit plans
Western companies, including Avon Products, Air Liquide and Reckitt, have remained in Russia despite saying they planned to leave after the invasion of Ukraine, as bureaucratic obstacles increase and consumer activity rebounds.
The Natura-owned cosmetics brand, the French industrial gas producer and the UK consumer group that produces everything from painkillers to condoms are among hundreds of western groups that have stayed in the country since the full-scale invasion in 2022.
“Many European companies have found themselves really between a rock and a hard place,” said one executive working with western companies in the country. “They said they’d leave. They were presented with a choice of buyers that were unacceptable to them.”
Overall, more than 2,100 multinationals have stayed in Russia since 2022, the Kyiv School of Economics has found, compared with about 1,600 international companies that have either quit the market or scaled back operations.
A rebound in consumer activity and “bureaucratic obstacles” are making the companies stay, the outlet suggested.
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“For over 135 years, Avon has stood for women wherever they are in the world, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, age or religion,” the company said. No doubt that brings joy to the women of Bahkmut and the scenes of other Russian atrocities.
Yes, I read that as “For 135 years, Avon has not cared about where its revenue source comes from and will continue to manipulate public opinion with hoodwinking statements”.
The US Govt should put a “Patriot Tax” or “Traitor Tax” on them until them divest from Russia (and maybe from other questionable locations.
@CrummyEagleLibertarian2yrs2Y
Ukraine and Russia had negotiated ceasefire with Turkish negotiations at the beginning of the war. Then came UK and other Western nations telling them not to pledging full support.
What happened??
@IntuitiveTacosGreen2yrs2Y
There was an excellent analysis on that negotiation, it's a good paper and discusses the reason for the breakdown of the negotiations and included:-
A final agreement proved elusive, however, for a number of reasons.
Kyiv’s Western partners were reluctant to be drawn into a negotiation with Russia
The public mood in Ukraine hardened with the discovery of Russian atrocities in Irpin and Bucha.
They tried to deliver an overarching settlement even as a basic cease-fire proved out of reach.
As an entrepreneur myself, I understand their perspective - it takes years of hard sweat and equity to build companies. Entrepreneurs also most often don't have time for politics, they are busy trying to build the business. Go online, spend 10s of hours and exclude these companies from your shopping list. Walk the talk and they will be forced to leave Russia. Except that you won't do that and will just keep complaining.
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