40 percent of global companies left Russia

Last week, MEP Moritz Körner submitted a parliamentary question to the European Union (EU) Commission on “how many Western companies continue their activities in Russia” despite the imposed sanctions.

The EU Commission, for its part, responded to Körner’s question based on data from the Executive Leadership Institute at the Yale School of Management in the US and reported that only 40 percent of international companies decided to leave Russia. .

MOST COMPANIES CONTINUE TO OPERATE

This situation put back on the agenda the database maintained by the Executive Leadership Institute of the Yale School of Management, on which the EU Commission relied in its response to the parliamentary question.

It was revealed that of more than 1,500 international companies operating in Russia before the war, 525 had completely ceased their activities, while 555 continued their activities in the country on a partial or normal basis. According to the database, the number of companies that have completely stopped their operations has increased to 535, while 547 have continued their activity partially or normally.

Accordingly, there are 535 in category A, which includes those who completely left Russia, 504 in category B, which includes those who temporarily ceased or suspended their activities, 156 in category C, which includes those who continue some lines of business, 175 in category D, which constitute those that gain time, and 216 in category F, which continue their activity normally. There is a company.

Two-thirds of these companies, which exceed 1,500 in total, are Western companies and the rest are multinational companies. Among these companies, 547 companies of categories C, D and F continue their operations in Russia partially or normally.

FEATURED US AND GERMAN COMPANIES

26 companies from Germany, 24 from France, 23 from the USA, 12 from Italy, 8 from Austria, 5 from Spain, 4 from the United Kingdom and 3 from Switzerland, as is usual in Russia despite the countries’ sanctions Westerners. like this. Among those “gaining time” by postponing their future growth plans in Russia are 47 companies from the US, 20 from Germany, 12 from France, 9 from Italy, 7 from Austria, 9 from the United Kingdom and 9 from Switzerland.

Among those that continue to operate some lines of business in Russia are 54 American companies, 19 German, 12 Swiss, 6 French, 5 Italian, 5 British and 2 Austrian.

According to Russian press reports, the profits of the top 100 Western companies remaining in Russia in 2022 increased by 54 percent compared to 2021, reaching 1.1 trillion rubles ($13.2 billion). The companies in question paid approximately 288 billion rubles ($3.5 billion) in corporate taxes in 2022. The corporate tax paid by German companies amounted to $402 million.

Tax revenues provided to Moscow by the top 100 Western companies amounted to 1 percent of Russia’s budget revenues, while the largest foreign corporate taxpayers were American, British and French companies, which paid 40 billion rubles, 47 billion of rubles and 55 billion rubles, respectively. .

Among the companies that made big profits last year were the French energy company Total Energies, the Austrian bank Raiffeisen and the British oil company BP.

THE SANCTIONS DID NOT AFFECT THE SOCIETY

The EU has imposed a series of restrictions on imports and exports to Russia as part of economic sanctions. This means that European companies cannot sell certain products to Russia (export restrictions) and Russian companies cannot sell certain products to the EU (import restrictions).

In order not to harm the Russian population, products intended primarily for consumption and some products for the healthcare, pharmaceutical, food and agricultural sectors are excluded from export and import restrictions.

According to research by German public broadcaster Südwestrundfunk (SWR), Russians hardly notice Western sanctions when they go shopping in Moscow. According to the investigation, other German brands, including those from the textile and sports sectors, can also be purchased in Moscow stores. Most car dealerships selling Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes Benz models are also open as normal. (AA)