Dozens of companies from Western countries, including Germany, US, UK, France, Italy, still active in Russia despite sanctions
ISTANBUL
Since the war between Russia and Ukraine on February 24 last year, more than 1,000 companies have suspended or ended their business activities in Russia, but some firms are continuing.
After Russia started what it called a “special military operation” in its neighbor on February 24, 2022, many sectors and countries announced sanctions or suspensions for trying to exert pressure on the Russian economy.
Some firms stopped their operations and deliveries in Russia, while others ended their investments or withdrew from their partnerships in Russia, even in Belarus.
On Thursday, a report from the US-based Yale University showed that dozens of companies remain to do business as usual in Russia.
Mainly from China, many companies continue to make operations, including Air China, Alibaba, China Mobile, Agricultural Bank of China, Honor, Oppo, Tencent and ZTE.
27 German firms, including AnyDesk Software, Claas, Globus, Hoffman Group, and Siemens Healthineers, are among the active firms in the country.
Some 27 US companies are also active in the country, including Quicksilver, Cloudflare, Sbarro Pizza, Riot Games, Tupperware, Valve, and Guess.
There are almost 30 French firms, 12 Italian, 7 British, and 5 Spanish among active companies.
Previously, a Brand Finance report showed that numerous major Western brands suspended their operations.
The world’s top brand, Amazon, suspended its Russian operations on March 9, 2022, and Apple, taking second place in the top brand’s list, has also suspended all official sales in Russia as of March 2, 2022.
As the third most valuable brand, Google suspended some services in the country in March 2022, such as the advertising and application market.
In January, Switzerland-based St. Gallen University’s report showed that only 8.5% of EU and G7 companies had taken steps to exit from Russia or suspended their operations there.
Meanwhile, some news stories asserted that G-7 nations are discussing restricting businesses’ operations in Russia.
