"Unfortunately, circumstances have not improved and the devastating war continues. Businesses and supply chains around the world have been severely impacted, and we do not foresee resuming operations in the near future.".
Taken from Efe, Moscow
Swedish furniture company Ikea announced today that it will sell its four factories in Russia, where it will also reduce its workforce and liquidate its inventory.
Ikea "will reduce its workforce and begin the process of finding new owners for its four factories," the company said in a statement. Ikea suspended sales in the country in early March following the start of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.
The Scandinavian company emphasizes, within the framework of a "new phase of reducing its operations in Russia and Belarus", that its two logistics offices in Moscow and Minsk will be closed "permanently".
Furthermore, it will keep its sales in Russia suspended, so "many workers will be affected.".
"To support the downsizing process, (...) plans to sell its furniture inventory in Russia ," the note states.
Ikea recalls that on March 3rd it decided to suspend its operations in Russia and Belarus due to "the war in Ukraine", but that since then it has guaranteed "six months' salary for all workers".
"Unfortunately, circumstances have not improved and the devastating war continues. Businesses and supply chains around the world have been severely impacted, and we do not foresee resuming operations in the near future," he says.
Since the start of the Russian "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, almost all international companies have left the Russian market.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West that its companies will have great difficulty returning to the Russian market and suggested that their departure "may even be for the best.".
In this regard, the head of the Rostec corporation, Sergei Chemezov, rejected the "total substitution of imports" as an alternative to Western economic sanctions and stressed that Russia must remain part of the global world, where it is impossible to progress "without international partners".
“It makes no sense, it’s economically inconvenient, and simply impossible. No developed country in the world does that. Isolation, including technological isolation, and trying to do everything on your own is a path to nowhere. The betrayal by the West is no reason to close windows and doors,” he said. EFE
