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13 Feb 2023

CSO coalition urges companies engaged in business with Russia to take immediate steps in response to ongoing war against Ukraine, incl. cos. responses & non-responses

Russia’s unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine has had an unprecedented response from companies with operations or investments in Russia and/or Ukraine. As of January 2023, more than 160 companies completely exited Russia, more than 700 suspended operations and around 450 withdrew from the market. At the same time, over 1200 businesses maintain their operations in Russia, according to KSE Institute database).

On September 21, President Vladimir Putin announced partial mobilisation of the Russian population. The accompanying legislation obligates all organisations, including international companies, to assist the Russian Government with mobilisation efforts. These activities risk enabling and financing Russia’s violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during the ongoing invasion and occupation of Ukraine.

For this reason, B4Ukraine, a coalition of civil society organisations, reached out to companies that continue operations in Russia requesting an urgent dialogue regarding potential inconsistencies between their commitments on Russian aggression and human rights more broadly and their ongoing business operations and relationships in Russia that may contribute to, or be linked with, human rights harms.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited 49 of those companies to respond. Raiffeisen Bank, HeidelbergCement, Fortum, Mars, Infosys, Glencore, Siemens Energy, PepsiCo, Danone, Barilla and Airbus responded. Schlumberger, JP Morgan, CISCO, Legrand, Liebherr, BNY Mellon, Johnson & Johnson, Calian Group, Tesla, DP Eurasia, Bonduelle, Elanco; IGP&I, Cargill, Philip Morris, Claas, Procter & Gamble, Dynacom Tankers, TMS Tankers, Minerva Marine, Thenamaris Ships Management, Auma, Haas Automation, Lenovo, Abbott, Abbvie, Accor, Afron, Eli Lilly, Guess, Harrods, Kimberly-Clark, JTI, OnlyFans, Kirei Chemical, Microsoft and Apple did not.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited PepsiCo, Mars, Cargill and Procter & Gamble to respond to follow-up letters. Companies did not.

Company responses and non-responses are available below. We will indicate here if we receive any additional responses.

Company Responses

SLB (former Schlumberger)

No Response

JPMorgan Chase

No Response

Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB Group) View Response
HeidelbergCement View Response
Fortum View Response
Infosys View Response
Glencore View Response
Cisco Systems

No Response

Legrand Electric Ltd

No Response

Liebherr

No Response

BNY Mellon

No Response

Johnson & Johnson

No Response

Tesla

No Response

Calian Group

No Response

Bonduelle

No Response

DP Eurasia

No Response

Siemens Energy AG View Response
PepsiCo View Response
Elanco

No Response

International Group of P&I Clubs (IGP&I)

No Response

Cargill

No Response

Philip Morris International

No Response

CLAAS

No Response

Procter & Gamble

No Response

Dynacom Tankers Management Ltd.

No Response

TMS Tankers

No Response

Minerva Marine

No Response

Thenamaris Ships Management

No Response

Danone View Response
Barilla View Response
Abbott Laboratories

No Response

AbbVie

No Response

Accor

No Response

Afton Chemical

No Response

Eli Lilly

No Response

Guess

No Response

Harrods

No Response

Kimberly-Clark

No Response

Japan Tobacco International

No Response

OnlyFans

No Response

Kirei Chemical

No Response

Microsoft

No Response

Airbus View Response
Apple

No Response

PepsiCo

No Response

Procter & Gamble

No Response

Mars

No Response

Cargill

No Response

Timeline