Consumer goods giant Unilever finally leaves Russia after backlash

Unilever eventually pulled out of Russia after being branded an “international sponsor of war.”

The consumer giant, whose brands include Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, has continued to sell products in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

But yesterday boss Hein Schumacher confirmed a deal with Russian consumer goods group Arnest, owned by a billionaire nicknamed the “hairspray king”, believed to be worth around £435m.

The agreement included all of Unilever’s businesses in Russia – where there are four factories – and in Belarus. The company has around 3,000 employees.

Schumacher said: “Over the past year, we have been preparing the Unilever Russia business for a possible sale.”

He said this had involved “very complex” work including separating IT platforms and supply chains, as well as separating previous brands to use the Russian alphabet.

“The sale ends Unilever Russia’s presence in the country,” Schumacher added.

Campaigners said the move should pave the way for other consumer giants to follow suit.

“There are no excuses” for including Mondelez, PepsiCo, Mars, Nestlé and P&G, said Nataliya Popovych, co-founder of the B4Ukraine coalition.

“The Unilever case shows that, with enough political will, a clean exit from Russia is possible, despite the financial obstacles imposed by the Kremlin,” he said.

Arnest, which makes perfumes, cosmetics and household goods, is run by Alexey Sagal, who has capitalized on the departure of Western companies by buying the Russian units of drinks bottler Ball’s and brewer Heineken.

Ukraine called Unilever an “international sponsor of war.”

And activists argued that it was indirectly financing the war through corporate taxes. Boss Schumacher had insisted that staying in Russia was “the least bad option”.

Leaving could mean the business falling into the hands of the Russian state, Schumacher and his team argued.

Mark Dixon, founder of the charity Moral Rating Agency, which aims to get companies out of Russia, said: “Unilever gets no medals for dancing with the devil for two and a half years.”

The Mail on Sunday revealed last year that FTSE 100 giant Coca-Cola HBC refused to close factories in Russia and switched to selling a local cola.