Unilever finally abandons Russian business after years of criticism

Unilever is finally exiting its Russian business after years of criticism for continuing to sell ice cream in the war-torn country.

The consumer giant – whose brands include Magnum, Wall’s and Ben & Jerry’s, as well as Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise – sparked outrage by refusing to pull out of the country following the invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.

But Russian media now say a sale has been agreed with the Arnest chemical group.

The deal is speculated to be worth between £300m and £334m after a 50 per cent discount on asset sales under Russian law.

Arnest chairman Alexey Sagal has been one of the Russian businessmen who has capitalised on the departure of Western companies from the country. He has bought the Russian subsidiaries of the drinks packaging company Ball’s and the brewer Heineken.

Unilever declined to comment last night. Russian business publications Kommersant and RBC said the deal had been submitted to the Kremlin subcommittee on foreign investment for approval. The government has not yet formally approved it but is prepared to accept it, two unnamed sources told the Financial Times.

The Ukrainian government has branded Unilever an “international sponsor of war” in a list of companies still operating in Russia.

Campaigners say Unilever is indirectly funding the war chest through corporate taxes.

Unliver boss Hein Schumacher, who succeeded Alan Jope in July 2023, had insisted that staying in Russia was “the last bad option”. Leaving could mean the business falling into Russian hands, Schumacher and his team argued. The company had stopped advertising and importing into the country.

Mark Dixon, founder of the charity Moral Ratings Agency, which aims to get companies out of Russia, said: “It’s interesting that a $500m payment could help (Unilever) do the moral thing.”

‘While an exit would be welcome news, we must never forget that Unilever has been supporting the Russian economy at a rate of £500m a year, which is enough to pay for a thermobaric rocket every nine days or an Iranian drone every 17 minutes. It deserves no medals for dancing with the devil for two and a half years.’

The Mail on Sunday revealed last August that FTSE 100 giant Coca-Cola HBC had refused to close factories in Russia and had switched to selling a local imitation of the cola drink.