22/05/2026
🆕 A new report released today by the B4Ukraine Coalition defines what a responsible corporate exit from Russia actually looks like.
The report defines responsible exit as a rights-based and time-bound process that prioritises immediate harm reduction and seeks to prevent complicity in international crimes, illustrated through case studies of companies including Unilever, Raiffeisen Bank, and Société Générale.
💬 "In the context of Russia's war of aggression, a delayed withdrawal can no longer be viewed as neutral or responsible. Companies that chose to remain after 2022 — and, arguably, after 2014 — made a conscious decision to continue operating in an aggressor state. In doing so, they risk complicity in sustaining the economic structures that enable the war and fall short of the heightened human rights due diligence expected under the UN Guiding Principles. Concerns about consumer convenience cannot outweigh the devastating human cost borne by Ukrainians or the role that continued business operations play in supporting Russia's capacity to wage war," said Nina Prusac, a Business and Human Rights Researcher at B4Ukraine.
đź’¬ "The impacts of foreign companies operating in Russia extend far beyond their employees or local communities, as they directly affect Ukrainian civilians. There is no such thing as simply paying taxes in Russia, because those tax contributions are used by the Russian government to produce weapons that kill thousands of civilians in Ukraine. Companies can no longer claim ignorance of the fact that their financial contributions help facilitate war crimes," said Ella Skybenko, Senior Researcher at the Business & Human Rights Centre.
đź“ť The paper was developed in collaboration with the Business and Human Rights Centre, the Essex Human Rights Centre, the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE Institute), and the Investor Alliance for Human Rights.
đź”— Read the full report at the link below.
