Major U.S. corporations operating in Russia paid $1.2 billion in taxes to the Russian state in 2023, according to Newsweek data. Newsweek said more than 300 U.S. companies still operate in Russia.
The figures were provided to Newsweek by B4Ukraine, a group of Ukrainian-funded NGOs that has spent the past three years urging Western companies to cut ties with Russia.
According to the group, the five companies that will pay the most profit taxes to Russia in 2023 are tobacco company Philip Morris International ($220 million), beverage company PepsiCo ($135 million), confectionery company Mars ($99 million), consumer health and hygiene company Procter & Gamble ($67 million) and confectionery company Mondelez.
According to a previous report by B4Ukraine, US companies paid a total of $1.2 billion in taxes to the Russian state in 2023, up from $712 million in 2022. The contributions of these companies made the US the country with the largest foreign tax revenue paid to the Russian budget.
Although a number of Western companies have pulled out of Russia since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022, about 123 major American companies remain in Russia, according to research from the Yale School of Management. When small and medium-sized businesses are included, Yale estimates that about 328 American companies are operating in Russia.
In addition to pressure campaigns organized by organizations such as B4Ukraine, Western sanctions have forced some companies to leave the Russian market.
British consumer goods giant Unilever pulled out of Russia last October, with CEO Hein Schumacher complaining that the company was struggling to move cash out of Russia and had problems reviewing financial results and controlling how its brands were managed.
Under divestment rules introduced by the Russian government last year, companies leaving Russia need to seek government permission to sell and are required to sell their assets at a 50% discount and pay a divestment tax of 10% to 15%.
From February 2022 to December 2023, companies that sold their Russian operations lost a total of $103 billion, The New York Times reported, citing financial records. The newspaper added that the companies also paid at least $1.25 billion in divestment taxes to the Russian state.
