Announcement of a peace agreement on the war in Ukraine and talks of US representatives and Russia For this purpose, they also affect the moods thousands of Western companies that still operate in Russia. The German economic daily “Handelsblatt” refers to two reports: according to a survey conducted by the University of Yale in the USA, only 34 percent of companies that were active in Russia in February 2022, completely withdrew from this country.
The Kiev School of Economics talks about 32 percent. According to Yale, 22 percent of companies are working on withdrawing from Russia, while 45 percent are still operating in this country.
German-Russian interests
According to the journal, the situation looks similar in the case of German companies. According to estimates, About 2,000 to 2,500 German companies are still present in Russiathough in various forms. According to the latest Data of the German-Russian Chamber of Foreign Trade 89 percent of German companies still operate in Russia. These include companies such as Beiersdorf Cosmetics (manufacturer of, among others, Nivea cosmetics), pharmaceutical and chemical concern Bayer Is the Ehrmann yogurt producer. Their activities in Russia for years have been criticized because of Taxes they pay to the Kremlin's cash registerdespite the ongoing war with Ukraine.
However – how I'm writing “Handelsblatt” – entrepreneurs remain skeptical in the face of the announcement of Donald Trump about negotiations in the matter peace agreement for Ukraine. According to Catharina Class-Mühlhäuser, the head of the Commission for Economic Relations with Eastern Europe, it is rather unlikely that German companies want to invest more soon in Russia.
“They fill the war money of Putin”
– This statement is noteworthy: after all, as the head of the Claas -Mühlhäuser association, she is not only a lobbyist for business in the East, but also a majority owner of the producer of agricultural machinery Claas, who still invests in Russia despite the war in Ukraine – we read in “Handelsblatt”.
As the daily adds, Claas is no exception: “Although the exact data vary depending on the source, most of the western companies that had connections with Russia before the start of the war, they are still deliberately doing business. And thus fills the war of Putin” – says the newspaper.
The article comes from the website Deutsche Welle.