International companies who are refusing to leave the market of Russia will be forced to support Russia’s war against Ukraine by aiding in the mobilization of conscripted troops. The following information has been shared by the Business for Ukraine, a coalition of Ukrainian and international civil society groups.
Companies that have remained in the market are employing 700,000 people and control around $141 billion in assets in the nation. Under current Russian regulation, these multinational companies will be forced to help conscript their employees into the Russian military via special mobilization departments and human resources structures.
Right now, 87% of those employed in multinational companies in Russia come from 10 major developed nations, including the USA, France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Japan, Italy, Greece, China and the Netherlands.
Russia’s 21 September partial mobilization law, Article 9 of Federal Law No.31-FZ, will mandate these companies to conduct military registration of their staff if at least one of their employees is liable for military service.
International companies must assist in delivering summons from the military to their employees, as well as in aiding in delivering equipment to assembly points and military units, as well as providing buildings, communications, land, transport, information and other materials to the army.
The legislation will apply to all of the 1,610 international companies that are currently operating on a full or limited scale within Russia. As per analysis conducted by the Kyiv School of Economics, US companies employ 251,294 people in Russia alone.
Majority of employees of international companies work in the automotive, food and drinks, tobacco, retail, pharmaceutical, electronics, and other sectors.
“Actions by Putin make the clearest demands on businesses to date: either favour the conflict and be complicit in war crimes or leave Russia,” says Tara Van Ho, Co-Director of the Essex Business and Human Rights Project at the University of Essex. “The impact is clear: foreign businesses are required to cut their ties. This can result in major losses for those businesses but the alternative is worse.”