Unilever is not against company's employees being conscripted into Russian army

Ukrainska Pravda
·2 min read
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The Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, widely represented in the global food products and household chemicals markets, has said that it will comply with Russian legislation on conscription if its Russian employees are conscripted into the army.

Source: BBC

Details: Answering a request from the B4Ukraine group, which is campaigning for companies to stop operating in Russia, Reginaldo Ecclissato, Unilever's Chief Business Operations and Supply Chain Officer, wrote that the company was "aware of the law requiring any company operating in Russia to permit the conscription of employees should they be called. We always comply with all the laws of the countries we operate in," the BBC reported.

Meanwhile, Unilever said it "condemns the war in Ukraine".

"We would like to reiterate that Unilever absolutely condemns the war in Ukraine as a brutal, senseless act by the Russian state and we continue to join the international community in calling for stability and peace in the region," the company's response said.

At the same time, the company stated that it continues to operate in Russia because "exiting is not straightforward" and "to avoid the risk of our business ending up in the hands of the Russian state, either directly or indirectly, and to help protect our people".

In addition, in a letter to B4Ukraine, Unilever reported that it paid 3.8 billion roubles (about $41,769,714) in taxes to the Russian budget in 2022.

For reference. Unilever is one of the world leaders in the food products and household chemicals markets. It owns over 400 brands and manufactures products at 280 factories. These include Domestos, Axe, Rexona, Dove, Calve, Rama, Brooke Bond, Lipton, Crème Bonjour, CIF, Knorr, Sunsilk, Timotei, CLEAR, Chista Liniya and others.

Background: Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has added Unilever to its list of international sponsors of war.

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