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Germany’s largest companies are not going to return to Russia, despite the possible end of the full-scale war against Ukraine waged by Russia and the lifting of sanctions.
This was reported by Deutsche Welle.
According to estimates by the Kyiv School of Economics, 68 out of 352 German companies have completely left Russia, while the rest either continue to do business (204 companies) or have somehow limited or frozen their operations in Russia.
The publication asked German companies that have left or stayed in Russia whether their plans for the Russian market have changed due to the change in the US administration’s rhetoric.
‘We cannot make assumptions about the future, but no involvement in Russia is currently foreseen,’ Siemens replied.
Before leaving the Russian Federation, the company employed about 2,700 Russian employees, and its turnover there in 2021 was €834 million. The company left Russia after 170 years of operation in the country.
Adidas did not officially withdraw from Russia, but after the outbreak of a full-scale war, it closed its stores, stopped online sales and ended its sponsorship activities in the country. Amid the new negotiations, ‘nothing has changed’ in the company’s decision, the company said.
At a presentation in early March, an Adidas representative admitted that they do not think about the Russian market ‘for a second’.
Volkswagen also said that the concern ‘currently has no plans to return to the Russian market’, adding that it does not comment on ‘any future scenarios and possible scenarios’.
A Bosch spokesperson said that the company has no such plans at the moment and that it is ‘too early’ to discuss the Russian market.
One of the world’s largest machine tool manufacturers, the German concern Trumpf, said it finally left Russia in April 2024 and ‘is not currently considering a return under any circumstances’.
