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Thousands of Nestlé staff at risk of being drafted to fight in Ukraine war
Alexa Phillips
Sun, July 23, 2023 at 3:19 p.m. GMT-4·3 min read
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Russian conscripts called up for military service line up before their departure for garrisons
Questions have been raised following rival Unilever’s admission that it would allow Russian staff to be conscripted - ALEXEY PAVLISHAK/REUTERS
More than 7,000 Nestlé workers in Russia are at risk of being conscripted into the Ukraine war as the company comes under pressure to withdraw from the country.

The food giant, which has six factories in Russia, refused to say whether it would intervene to stop staff being called up to fight in Ukraine.

Questions have been raised following rival Unilever’s admission that it would allow Russian staff to be conscripted.

The Swiss business said it is closely monitoring developments in Russia and would “act to safeguard the wellbeing” of its employees and “protect their fundamental rights”.

However,  when pressed further, Nestlé declined to say it would take action to stop the conscription of its staff.

Russian law requires any company operating in the country to allow the conscription of workers should they be called upon.

Nestlé and Unilever are among a handful of Western businesses that have remained in Russia following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

Both have cut back operations in the country and argue that they are providing vital goods to ordinary people who are not involved in the war.

Nestlé said it continues to sell “essential and basic foods”. Products available in Russian supermarkets reportedly include chocolate bars, Nescafé, Purina pet food and Bystrow breakfast cereals.

However, Western businesses are under growing pressure to exit Russia altogether as the war in Ukraine drags on.

Valeriia Voshchevska, of the Ukraine Solidarity Project, a campaign group, said: “Companies basically gamble with the lives of their staff and with their reputation by staying there.

“It’s not like operating in any other country. It’s operating in a country that has basically thrown out any rules and any kind of laws through the window.”

Reginaldo Ecclissato, Unilever’s chief business operations and supply chain officer, has said continuing to run its Russian business with strict constraints was better than selling it with a potential benefit to the Kremlin, or closing down and seeing operations appropriated by the Russian state.

Protesters carry placards &#39;Boycott Nestle&#39; as they take part in a demonstration against the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year
Protesters carry placards 'Boycott Nestle' as they take part in a demonstration against the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year - Shuttershock
Eddy Hargreaves, an equity research analyst at wealth manager Investec, said this defence was starting to become implausible.

Mr Hargreaves said: “Those arguments don’t hold much water now, because it’s not really stopping the Russians doing whatever they want.”

He pointed out that the Russian Government expropriated assets from Carlsberg and Danone last week under a decree aimed at companies from “unfriendly” countries.

Mr Hargreaves said Unilever, Nestlé and other businesses are “being blackmailed into allowing their employees to be conscripted” because if they did not, they would be shut down or have their assets expropriated.

He said: “By staying on it would risk losing more in reputation globally than they might save short term in monetary terms and continuing in Russia.

“At the same time, they can’t really say that they’re safeguarding their employees or their well-being anymore.”

A Nestlé spokesman said: “Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, we have implemented the actions we committed to take last year concerning our operations in Russia, and drastically reduced our portfolio in the country to refocus our efforts on continuing to provide access to essential and basic foods for the local people.

“We continue to closely monitor developments in Russia, and act to safeguard the wellbeing of all our employees and to protect their fundamental rights. We have been clear that our employees in Russia should be considered essential workers given the critical nature of our sector: producing food.

“Of course, we are fully complying with all applicable international sanctions on Russia.”