Clariant has suspended all business with Russia with immediate effect after the country’s “intolerable acts of violence” in Ukraine, the Switzerland-headquartered chemicals producer said at the weekend.
"We strongly oppose Russia's war against the Ukraine and support the vote of the UN General Assembly that the Russian government must immediately stop the aggression, withdraw its troops, and abide by the rules of the UN Charter. Our thoughts are with our 146 employees and their families in the Ukraine and we are doing everything in our power to support them. We join them in hoping that this brutal violence will end soon. Continuing to do business under these circumstances is incompatible with our purpose and values. Therefore, we have decided to suspend all business with Russia with immediate effect," said Conrad Keijzer, Clariant’s Chief Executive Officer.
Many employees of Clariant have taken personal initiative to help their colleagues in the Ukraine or to support aid organizations on the ground. Clariant encourages these activities and is grateful that the Clariant Foundation has made a donation to UNICEF, which is working with communities in the Ukraine to ensure that children and families in need can be helped right away.
Clariant operates a sales office and a laboratory in Russia which contributes “approximately” 2% of total sales, said the company. Clariant’s total sales in 2020 amounted to Swiss francs (Swfr) 3.86bn or around USD4.2bn, which means its sales to Russia translate to around Swfr77m.
The company delayed the publication of its 2021 financial results after disclosing that it had opened an internal investigation into its accounting. Clariant said its Foundation had donated to the UN’s agency for aid to children UNICEF, although it did not disclose the amount.
As per MRC, ExxonMobil said it will exit a major oil and gas project and cease investing in Russia, making it the latest western oil company to cut ties with the country following its invasion of Ukraine. The Texas-based energy supermajor said it was “discontinuing operations” at the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia’s far east, one of the largest foreign-operated oil and gasfields in the country. Exxon follows BP, Shell and Norway’s Equinor, which have said they will dump stakes in projects and sell out of Russian state-backed energy groups after Moscow was hit with a barrage of western sanctions.
mrchub.com