American companies that remove or suspend operations in Russia may face arrests of their executives and confiscation of their assets, Russian president Vladimir Putin has warned.
Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Yum Brands are among the American food & beverage processors who are scaling back their Russian operations in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian prosecutors delivered warnings to those companies and others about possible lawsuits and asset seizures. In addition, Putin has expressed support for nationalizing foreign companies that pull out of Russia.
None of the companies involved would comment to the Wall Street Journal. Coca-Cola imports concentrate into Russia from Ireland to make soft drinks, but it owns only a 21% share of the major Coca-Cola bottler there. McDonald’s said it would close all of its 847 locations in Russia but continue to pay employees; Yum said it will close 70 company-owned KFC restaurants in Russia, but more than 1,000 others, owned by franchisees, remain open.
