More than 90 percent of Western companies have not left Russia after that country’s aggression against Ukraine

Despite widespread anger over the war in Ukraine, only about 8.5 percent of companies from the European Union and G7 countries have left Russia, Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws reports, citing research from the University of St. Gallen and IMD business school in Lausanne. .

Before the war broke out in Ukraine, there were over 2,400 in Russia. Corporate branches and more than 1.4 thousand. The newspaper reported that companies from the European Union and the G7 countries (Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Great Britain and the United States). According to Swiss researchers, by the end of November only 120 companies, or less than 9 percent, had either withdrawn from Russia or sold their subsidiary.

The researchers’ findings contradict the thesis of “mass migration” of Western companies from the aggressor’s country. “Business resists pressure from governments, the media and NGOs,” we read in “HLN”.

The report’s authors say that Western policymakers and major corporations do not appear to agree on the need to withdraw from Russia. Scientists from the University of St. Gallen and IMD Business School in Lausanne point out that giving up doing business in Russia is costly for companies, their employees and shareholders.