Heineken joins brands leaving Russia following Ukraine invasion
Other companies have stopped trading in Russia, including McDonalds
Heineken has become the next major company to announce it will halt trading in Russia following its invasion into Ukraine.
In a statement published this morning, the beer company said it would no longer produce or sell its alcohol in Russia as a result of the war.
Chief executive of Heineken, Dolf van den Brink, said: "We are shocked and saddened to watch the tragedy in Ukraine unfold. We stand with the Ukrainian people and our hearts go out to all those affected.
"We will take immediate steps to ring-fence our Russian business from the wider Heineken Company to stop the flow of monies, royalties and dividends out of Russia. Heineken will no longer accept any net financial benefit derived from our Russian operations. This is in addition to the earlier announced stop on all new investments and exports to Russia."
As well as this, the alcohol company announced that it would increase its support and donations for those on the frontline helping Ukrainian refugees flee the country.
For the meantime, Heineken's operations in Russia are left uncertain, with Mr Brink saying that all options were on the table.
"We are assessing the strategic options for the future of our Russian operations. We see a clear distinction between the actions of the Government and our employees in Russia."
Heineken is now the latest company to join in a global withdrawal from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
In recent days, other worldwide corporations such as McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Netflix have also announced they would no longer serve the Russian people.
These are some of the companies that will no longer operate in Russia:
Companies shut up shop in Russia
Following the invasion of Ukraine, Swedish furniture shop IKEA was one of the first companies to halt trading in Russia. All of IKEA's Russian shops closed on March 4th, leading to large queues in the days beforehand. Several other businesses followed suit - including McDonald's, Apple, Netflix and Google.
Netflix
Video-streaming service Netflix initially took a cautious approach to the situation, halting all upcoming productions based in Russia. However, the company later announced that the entire service would be withdrawn from Russia altogether.
Airbnb
Around the same time as IKEA had announced it would halt trading in Russia, home-rental business Airbnb made a similar move. As a result, all Russian Airbnbs have been removed from the site, alongside those in Belarus, a key ally of Russia's offensive.
McDonald's
After thirty years of service, fast food chain McDonald's announced it would temporarily close all 850 branches of the company in Russia. Speaking to employees, McDonald's' CEO Chris Kempckinski said that "our values mean we cannot ignore the needless human suffering unfolding in Ukraine." All workers would continue to be paid whilst the closures took place.
Coca-Cola Company
A number of food and drink companies - including Coca-Cola also announced on March 8th that they would no longer be supplying drinks to Russian businesses and halt business operations in the country indefinitely. The Coca-Cola company also produces other soft drinks such as Sprite and Fanta.
Apple and Google Pay
At the beginning of March, both tech giants Apple and Google announced it would no longer support their payment services in Russia. The result led to large queues throughout Russia, as many struggled to pay for transport and shopping. Both Apple and Google have expanded their withdrawal, saying that it would freeze its business in Russia.
VISA and Mastercard
In addition to the freezing of Apple and Google Pay, other payment companies such as VISA and Mastercard announced they would also suspend their services in Russia. Those with valid cards could still continue to use their cards until their expiry date, but continued to cripple the Russian economy, as 74% of debit and credit card transactions were using Visa and Mastercard services.
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