Koch Industries, Inc., a billionaire conservative donor headed by Charles Koch, will remain in Russia, not opposed to American companies leaving the country. According to the statement It was posted on its website Wednesday. More than 400 companies have left, suspended or suspended their activities in Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine. List compiled by the Yale School of Management Performances.
Guardian Industries, which is owned by Koch Industries, employs 600 people in two glass factories in Russia. Koch also has 15 other employees outside Guardian Industries in the country.
“Even though the Guardian’s business in Russia is a very small part of Koch, we will not segregate our employees and provide these facilities to the Russian government so that it can operate and benefit from them,” Dave Robertson said. , President and CEO. This is stated in a statement from Koch Industries.
“The horrible and heinous aggression against Ukraine is an insult to humanity,” he said. “It violates our company’s values and principles.”
However, the company chooses to stay in the country and follow Russian policies and says the abandonment is detrimental to its employees.
“Koch companies comply with all applicable sanctions, laws and regulations governing our relationships and transactions in all countries in which we operate,” Robertson said.
In a virtual speech in Congress on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on lawmakers to force companies in their states to sever trade ties with Russia.
“Every American company should leave Russia out of its market … right away, because it’s full of our blood,” Zelensky said. “Peace is more important than profit and we must uphold this principle around the world.”
Ukrainian President Zelensky called on members of the US Congress to take further measures against Russian politicians, to force companies to leave Russia.
“Every American company must leave Russia … immediately, because it is flooded with our blood.” https://t.co/YTjDsZBM0G pic.twitter.com/9PkcKl8W84
– MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 17, 2022
Koch Industries, Inc., which employs more than 120,000 people in more than 50 countries, has annual sales of $ 115 billion. According to Forbes.
Charles Koch, the company’s CEO for 86 years, threw money behind the tea party movement after Barack Obama won the election in 2008. But he said he regretted the partisanship he had known for many years.
“Guys, we broke up! The mess! He wrote in his book Published in November 2020, “Believe in the People: Bottom-Up Solutions for the Bottom-Up World”.
Koch is number 27 on Forbes ’list of global billionaires for 2021.
Source: Huffpost
