Many European companies continue to do business in Russia – and thus pay taxes to the Russian state. Calls for stronger sanctions are becoming louder.
According to the EU Commission, the majority of foreign investors are still doing business in Russia despite Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Only a good 40 percent of international companies have decided to leave the country or have already done so, according to a response from the EU Commission to a question from MEP Moritz Körner.
The Brussels authority relies on data from the Yale Management School and the Ukrainian KSE Institute. According to this information, the pharmaceutical company Stada and the healthcare group Fresenius are still active in Russia. In the past, the companies justified this with the medical care of local people.
“Every European company that continues to make profits in Russia is directly supporting Putin’s war machine with its taxes to the Russian state,” said Körner. The EU must tighten its sanctions regime accordingly. “The remaining of European companies on the Russian market must be made into an economic loss,” demanded the FDP politician.
The EU will continue to provide Ukraine with decisive political, financial, humanitarian and military support against Russia’s brutal war of aggression, the EU Commission says.
Source: Stern
