Most of the approximately 250 Belgian companies with establishments in Russia refuse to leave the country, even if they strongly disapprove of the war in Ukraine, reports L’Echo on Saturday.
The companies that remain in Russia intend in particular not to abandon their Russian employees and customers. According to data compiled by Echo, with the help of Graydon and Creditsafe, the Russian subsidiaries of Belgian companies represent several billion euros in turnover. In 2021 alone, Belgian companies invested 1.5 billion euros in Russia. In 2021, 1,556 Belgian companies exported 3.4 billion euros worth of goods to the country presided over by Vladimir Putin.
For some Belgian companies, however, it is no longer possible to continue their activities in Russia, such as the La Lorraine bakery group, for example, which had to stop the construction of a new factory overnight. This was indeed co-financed to the tune of 50 million euros by the Russian sovereign wealth fund.