Monthly Archives: September 2023

Unethical Firms Continue to Do Business in Russia

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It has now been 19 months since Russia invaded Ukraine, restarting the war it launched in 2014 to occupy parts of eastern Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula. Since launching its effort to conquer all of Ukraine, Russia has engaged in documented war crimes and genocidal activity including torture, the deliberate targeting of civilians, and seizure and transport of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Nevertheless, a range of American companies continue to maintain business operations in Russia. The most ethical firms have withdrawn or suspended operations. Others are scaling back or phasing out operations. Then, there is a smaller subset of unethical companies that are “buying time” or “digging in” and continuing to carry out activities in Russia and pay taxes to the Russian government. In turn, those taxes help fund Russia’s brutal ongoing war. Put another way, those companies are helping to financially underwrite Russia’s war and war conduct.

The list of unethical companies includes some widely-recognized corporate names: ChampionX, Cloudflare, Fleetcor, Guess, Huntsman, Patreon, Sbarro, and Stryker.

For those interested in maintaining track of such companies, including those who acted ethically to suspend or withdraw their operations from Russia—ranging from business professors who teach ethics in their courses to students seeking out prospective employers—the information can be found at a page created and hosted by the Yale School of Management.