€16 Billion to Kill Ukrainians: Multinationals Are Funding Russia’s War Machine
For three years, Russian bombs have been raining down on Ukraine. Entire cities have been wiped out, thousands of civilians massacred, and yet some Western multinationals continue to fuel the Kremlin’s war effort. Out of sheer greed, they pour billions of euros in taxes and duties into Russia, directly funding the weapons that kill Ukrainian men and women every single day. This is a moral betrayal of unacceptable proportions.
Billions Funneled into Putin’s Regime
According to the latest figures from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), nearly 60% of Western companies that were operating in Russia at the start of the war are still doing business there today. Since 2022, they have generated nearly €500 billion in revenue and paid €16 billion in taxes and duties to the Russian state budget. The biggest contributor? The Austrian bank Raiffeisen, which alone accounts for a tenth of that sum.
Investigations by L’Express have exposed how these corporations continue to funnel billions into the Russian state, directly financing its war machine. With Russia now fully converted into a war economy, over 40% of the country’s tax revenues are absorbed by the military budget.
Deliberate Support for Russia’s War Effort
These multinationals can no longer claim ignorance. Every euro paid to Putin’s regime directly funds the tanks, missiles, and drones that are devastating Ukraine. By choosing to remain in Russia, they are making a clear decision: profit over human lives. While these companies continue to profit from their Russian operations, Ukrainians are paying in blood.
An Urgent Call to Withdraw
For three years, Stand With Ukraine and the B4Ukraine coalition have been urging multinationals to take responsibility and immediately exit the Russian market. Their presence in Russia means only one thing: the indirect financing of a criminal regime.
The findings of L’Express reveal the full scale of this complicity. It is time for these companies to stop supporting Putin’s war machine through their taxes, duties, and ongoing business activities. Their inaction makes them complicit. Every day they remain in Russia is another day they fund the destruction of an entire nation.
The choice is simple: humanity or profit. We demand that they finally make the right one.
