The Ukrainian government has branded Unilever the “international sponsor of war” after a new Russian law obligated companies operating in the country to contribute directly to its war effort.
Unilever is still operating in Russia, with its local business continuing to sell “essential” products such as tea and ice cream.
The Ukraine Solidary Project (USP) erected a billboard with photos of wounded Ukrainian servicemen in a mock ad campaign for Dove outside Unilever’s offices in London to protest its continued operations in Russia.
Giant poster outside @Unilever HQ ✔️
300 leaflets to staff and passers-by✔️
Staff taking photos on their way in ✔️
Unilever designated sponsor of war ✔️Now @Unilever just needs to do the right thing and get out of Russia ASAP. pic.twitter.com/fa64YMtEys
— Ukraine Solidarity Project (@SolidarityUKR) July 3, 2023
USP said that Unilever still employs 3,000 people in Russia and it has increased both its revenue and profit since the country invaded Ukraine more than a year ago. The action group said that Unilever’s profits in Russia nearly doubled from 4.8 billion rubles (AU$91.4m) in 2021 to more than 9.2 billion rubles (AU$176m) last year. It also said that Unilever Rus paid around US$50m (AU$74m) to the Russian treasury last year in taxes.
USP claimed the company promised to suspend all its imports and exports to and from Russia and halt all media and advertising spending following the invasion of Ukraine. The group claims that Unilever continues to operate “at a large scale” with enterprises in Omsk, Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg and Tula continuing their work, offices still running operational activities and ensuring the presence of brands in shops.
“Unilever cannot say it is opposed to the war while at the same time contributing to Putin’s war machine,” said Oleksandr Novikov, the head of Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP).
“We have added them as an International Sponsor of War because their hundreds of millions in tax contributions to the Russian state are helping to fund its attacks on Ukraine and could be indirectly funding a mercenary criminal group. Unilever has a new CEO in Hein Schumacher, it needs a new start and to live up to its values of human rights. Unilever must leave Russia now or history will record its complicity.”
Unilever said that it continues to provide “everyday food and hygiene products made in Russia to people in the country.
“We understand why there are calls for Unilever to leave Russia,” the company added.
“We also want to be clear that we are not trying to protect or manage our business in Russia. However, for companies like Unilever, which have a significant physical presence in the country, exiting is not straightforward.”
It also said that if it were to abandon its business and brands in Russia, “they would be appropriated – and then operated – by the Russian state” and it had not been able to find a way to sell the business that “avoids the Russian state potentially gaining further benefit, and which safeguards our people”.
In light of those challenges, the company said that continuing to run its business with “strict constraints” was the best option.
One of the servicemen pictured on the USP billboard was Oleh, 26, from Kyiv. He had both legs amputated after he was injured by a Russian anti-tank mine while fighting in eastern Ukraine.
“Many civilians are being killed, children are being killed and the Russian military is torturing Ukrainian civilians. You’re paying taxes to the aggressor country and thus financing terrorism,” he said.
Valeriia Voshchevska, a spokesperson for USP added that: “Unilever is contributing hundreds of millions in tax revenues to a state which is killing civilians and funding a mercenary group about to be designated a terrorist organisation in the UK.
“It risks its staff and resources being mobilised into Putin’s machine. Some of the world’s biggest companies have already left Russia. It’s possible – after 16 months of war – that the time for excuses has passed.”
Unilever is not the only large company to find itself listed as an “international sponsor of war” by the USP. The group said that Proctor & Gamble continues to operate two factories in Russia, a Gillette razor manufacturing plant in St Petersburg, and a toiletries manufacturing plant in Tula Oblast.
International snack firm Mondelēz continues to operate in the country under its Mon’delys Rus subsidiary and operates three factories that manufacture the likes of Oreos, TUC crackers and Halls candies. Following the invasion of Ukraine, Mondelēz said that it would suspend new investments and advertising in Russia, though this did not prevent the company from continuing to promote its products in the market.
