Why Henkel, Uniper & Co. are still around

Frankfurt, Riga After the attack on Ukraine, a large number of German companies announced that they would quickly withdraw from Russia. Some companies like Mercedes, Lanxess, Dr. Oetker or Remondis have already reported completion, with many others the “Do Swidanja” project is dragging on (“Goodbye”) but longer, for example at Henkel and Uniper. Some companies like Metro, Stada and Wintershall even want to stay in Russia.

Björn Paulsen, Russia expert at the law firm Noerr, assumes that almost 90 percent of the large German companies operating in Russia have “de facto given up” their business there and, above all, no longer deliver to Russia. “In view of the regulatory difficulties, the success rate for the sale of the corporate shares is significantly lower, probably only 25 to 30 percent.”