Protesters vent fury at French company for staying in Russia

WARSAW, Poland — A person in a Russian army uniform stood on the entrance of a giant house enchancment retailer in Poland’s capital, saluting buyers and thanking them for funding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s struggle in Ukraine.

His chest bedecked with medals, Polish activist Arkadiusz Szczurek was protesting on the French-owned retailer Leroy Merlin in Warsaw as buyers flocked to purchase crops and gardening gear with spring’s arrival. Some buyers rotated to go elsewhere. Others had been detached or irritated.

“Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are pressured to flee the bombs and taking pictures, (and) individuals are dying,” Ukrainian activist Natalia Panchenko stated on the small rally final weekend. “However they preserve doing enterprise and see no downside with financing the struggle.”

It marked the most recent protest in Poland over Leroy Merlin’s resolution to maintain working 112 shops in Russia, whilst many different Western firms have suspended operations there. Leroy Merlin would not remark apart from to say it’s not liable for the struggle. It is among the many overseas firms with a big footprint in Russia which have had to decide on between taking the monetary hit of leaving or face injury to their status by staying.

It’s a painful selection for firms based mostly in nations like France and Italy, which do intensive enterprise in Russia and are holding their sights on future commerce as soon as the struggle is over. Nevertheless, many firms with huge stakes in Russia have pulled out and are enduring the hit to their backside strains.

McDonald’s closed its 850 shops in Russia in March, however continues to be paying its 62,000 staff. The fast-food chain stated it’s dropping $55 million per thirty days in gross sales from Russia and expects to lose $100 million value of stock due to retailer closures. Vitality firm Shell says it is taking a $3.9 billion cost to cowl the price of exiting investments in Russia, whereas rival BP stated it is taking $25.5 billion in pretax costs to exit its holdings in Russian power producer Rosneft.

Different firms are nonetheless partially working in Russia. PepsiCo, Nestle, drugmaker Johnson & Johnson are nonetheless supplying necessities like drugs and child formulation whereas halting nonessential gross sales. Italian tiremaker Pirelli and Danish brewer Carlsberg say they’re working simply sufficient to assist their Russian employees.

Leroy Merlin, with shops much like House Depot, is among the many overseas firms with the very best income in Russia. It says it has helped Ukrainian refugees, together with its employees. Mum or dad firm Adeo Group in Paris did not reply to a number of requests for remark.

Such French firms with important operations in Russia have been singled out by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as aiding Russia’s struggle effort. In an handle to the French parliament in March, he talked about carmaker Renault, Leroy Merlin and two different retailers belonging to Adeo Group: grocery store chain Auchan and sporting items chain Decathlon.

Quickly after, Renault and Decathlon stated they might droop Russian operations, however Leroy Merlin and Auchan stayed.

To many in Ukraine, the place Leroy Merlin shut its six shops amid bombings, that looks like a betrayal. In Poland, which borders Ukraine and has accepted extra refugees than one other different nation, many individuals are extremely important of the French firm.

Poland is a member of NATO, however there are nonetheless fears it additionally may turn out to be a goal of the Kremlin’s revived colonial ambitions, significantly if Russia claims victory in Ukraine.

Dominik Gąsiorowski, prime organizer of the Polish Leroy Merlin Boycott motion, believes withholding enterprise to an organization that is a serious taxpayer in Russia is without doubt one of the few concrete issues common folks can do to affect the end result of the struggle.

“If we, as Western nations, assist companies staying in Russia, we’re paying Putin to invade us ultimately,” he stated. “I refuse to consider that my folks, Polish folks, can not make such a small gesture of solidarity throughout a genocide as selecting one other store a number of kilometers away.”

Throughout final weekend’s picketing, activists held a poster of a container alongside Leroy Merlin’s inexperienced emblem, calling it a “bin for a corpse” with the message “Leroy Kremlin helps the Russian invasion.”

It was designed by artist Bartłomiej Kiełbowicz, who additionally has created faux labels folks have been sticking on cabinets inside Leroy Merlin shops, together with one for a brush and dustpan “for sweeping away guilt.” There may be one other for hammers — “for killing.”

Andrzej Kubisiak, deputy director of the Polish Financial Institute, stated it is too quickly to know the complete impact of the protests however that an app monitoring motion on streets has confirmed much less site visitors going to Leroy Merlin, Auchan and Decathlon shops. A Polish financial institution evaluation of card funds additionally exhibits a fall in purchases.

However Kubisiak stated traditionally boycott actions lose steam over time, and he expects this one will, too, as Poles, dealing with inflation of over 12%, will likely be guided by client costs above all else. All three French retailers are identified for his or her aggressive costs.

Polish buyers’ response to the protests has been blended.

Wiesław Bobowik, a 64-year-old trainer, stated he discovered the boycott ridiculous and wasn’t persuaded to buy elsewhere.

“I’d be hurting the French, and they’re our buddies,” he stated, loading potted crops and enormous luggage of soil into his automotive trunk. “Why would I try this?”

The activists are also encouraging folks to not store at Auchan. Gąsiorowski stated the motion is focusing totally on Leroy Merlin as a result of it was the overseas firm with the second-highest income in Russia in 2020, following cigarette maker Philip Morris Worldwide, which has suspended investments. Auchan was No. 6.

However the motion, he stresses, is bigger than Leroy Merlin.

“Each different firm is taking a look at them for example,” he stated. “In the event that they succeed whereas collaborating with Putin, all the key gamers will return to Russia.”

———

Colleen Barry in Milan, Anne D’Innocenzio in New York, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit, and Kelvin Chan in London, contributed to this report.