Volodymyr Zelensky’s message was blunt. Western businesses must leave Russia immediately “because it is flooded with our blood”, the Ukrainian president told the US Congress last week. Those that stayed, he said, would be financing Russian president Vladimir Putin’s war.
Multinationals have pulled back from Russia at a speed and scale without precedent. Some, such as Danone, have stopped new investments but insisted they would remain, citing a responsibility to “the people we feed [and] the farmers who provide us with milk”.
Many are exploring more radical options. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale School of Management professor who has been tracking the “business blockade”, estimates that more than 400 have now pledged to scale back, suspend operations or withdraw completely.