Multinational corporations never withdrew from Russia, maintaining operations that generated massive profits for 1,600 (!) of them—and huge corporate tax revenues for Moscow. That’s the main finding of a report drawn up by the Kyiv School of Economics, together with the B4Ukraine coalition and the Squeezing Putin pressure group.
Before this week’s predictable cold shower from Donald Trump, European grandstanding about unconditional support for Ukraine was a growth area. However, despite billions of Euros worth of arms, ammunition and aid sent to Kyiv, and some European leaders comparing Russia to the Third Reich, and Putin to Hitler, it was business as usual all this time.
According to the report, the more than 2,000 Western companies that never ceased their activities in Russia achieved combined revenues of $197 billion in 2023, with profits at just under $17 billion. In the same year, these multinationals paid $21.6 billion in taxes to Moscow, an amount equal to one third of projected spending of the 2025 Russian military budget. The report highlights how
American and German corporations transferred $1.2 billion and $692.5 million, respectively, to the Kremlin in 2023.
Italian news website Il Fatto Quotidiano quotes the report in detail, focusing on the role of large Italian companies. Of the thousands of large foreign enterprises operating in Russia uninterruptedly, 142 are Italian, including such well-known ones as Barilla, Benetton, Calzedonia, Ferrero, and Geox.
Their reluctance to leave is not surprising, considering that Ferrero’s turnover alone amounted to $740 million in 2023, followed by Calzedonia at $400 million. In addition, Calzedonia employs more than 2,000 people through its Russian subsidiary, while Benetton boasts a staff of 500.
Of course Italy is only eighth-placed on the list of countries whose multinationals are present in Russia. The United States is number one, with 795 companies, followed by Germany (495), and the UK (292). Then come China, France, Japan and Switzerland.
Central European states still dependent on Russian energy have been bullied into endorsing pervasive European Union sanctions against Moscow, and those leaders advocating a more sober approach, one which takes into account the interests of their own citizens, have been mocked and ostracized. Europeans have had to face high inflation, rising utility costs and weakening security as a result of the depletion of their weapons and ammunition reserves. This is especially perverse knowing that Western corporations based in the same countries that push for even more support for Kyiv are not only getting rich in Russia, but are also financing the Kremlin’s war machine. Hypocrisy squared.
