Major Western companies paying billions of dollars to Russian budget
Illustrative photo (Getty Images)
In 2023, the top 10 largest international corporations and banks still operating in Russia paid approximately $1.78 billion in profit taxes alone, according to the monitoring results of the KSE Institute.
Among these companies are:
- Raiffeisen Bank - $491 million,
- Chery Automobile - $222 million,
- Philip Morris - $220 million,
- Japan Tobacco International - $182 million,
- UniCredit Bank - $154 million,
- Pepsi - $135 million,
- Leroy Merlin - estimated $125 million,
- Mars - estimated $99 million,
- Uniper SE - seized by authorities, $79 million,
- OTP Bank - $69 million.
"Despite the Russian authorities concealing macroeconomic data, we estimate that foreign companies annually pay around $20 billion in taxes. While their number is decreasing, the total amount of taxes paid continues to rise due to increased tax pressure and higher tax rates," said Andrii Onopriienko, Deputy Director for Development at KSE and head of the Leave-Russia.org project.
According to KSE estimates, around 1,000 foreign companies that disclosed their financial statements paid $6.4 billion in profit taxes in 2023, which is $200 million more compared to 2022.
Overall, 2,139 international companies continue to operate in Russia, 1,349 businesses are scaling down their operations, and 417 have fully exited the country.
In July 2024, eight companies completed their exit from the Russian market through liquidation or sale of their businesses. Among them are Banijay Group, Candy, Fujitsu, UPS, YouScan, Knorr-Bremse, Osram Licht AG, and Roshen (with the factory’s shares seized and nationalized).
As reported by RBC-Ukraine, American companies Mondelez, Mars Inc., and PepsiCo Inc. saw a surge in sales in Russia last year, continuing their operations despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
