For German Firms, Ties to Russia Are Personal, Not Just Financial
That was just before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, but business was starting to pick up this year. Then came the invasion.
The Russia-Ukraine War and the Global Economy
“Now, we are wondering what we should do. Break off contact and just let him go, ”said Mr. Daller, whose company has annual revenue of € 2.5 million. “From a financial point of view, it would not be that dramatic for us. But he is a father of three and the whole family depends on his job. ”
It is not only the smaller companies that are facing tough decisions.
Wintershall Dea, a German oil and gas company with a global portfolio of projects, canceled its annual company news conference that was to be held on Feb. 25, the day after the invasion. Instead, its leaders issued a joint statement on March 2 expressing alarm at the war.
“We have been working in Russia for over 30 years. Many of our colleagues at our other locations also work with partners from Russia on a daily basis, ”it read. “We have built many personal relationships – including in our joint ventures with Gazprom,” Russia’s state energy giant.
“But the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine marks a turning point,” they said. “What is happening now is shaking the very foundations of our cooperation.”
The company separately said that it would stop payments to Russia and write off its € 1 billion investment in the ill-fated Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany, that the government in Berlin had suspended on Feb. 22. It will also not receive any revenue from its oil and gas operations in Russia, which accounted for nearly a fifth of its operating profit in 2021.
Not every German company is pulling out. Metro, a wholesale food company with 93 locations in Russia, where it had revenue of € 2.4 billion last year, said it had decided to continue operations out of concern that pulling out would disrupt food supplies to the population. “None of our 10,000 employees in Russia is personally responsible for the war in Ukraine,” the company said in a statement.