President Volodymyr Zelensky calls out Nestle for not cutting ties with Russia. “‘Good food. Good life.’ This is the slogan of Nestlé. Your company that refuses to leave Russia,” Zelensky said Saturday. “Even now — when there are threats from Russia to other European countries. Not only to us. When there is even nuclear blackmail from Russia.”
Nestle, makers of global brands like Nescafe, Koko Crunch, Kitkat, and many more defended their stance.
“We have significantly scaled back out activities in Russia: we have stopped all imports and exports from Russia, except for essential products,” a Nestlé spokesperson said. “We no longer make investments or advertise our products. We do not make a profit from our remaining activities.”
“The fact that we, like other food companies, supply the population with important food does not mean that we simply continue as before,” Nestlé said. “We are still one of the few active food companies in Ukraine and sometimes even manage to distribute food in Kharkiv,” Ukraine’s second-largest city, which is currently under siege.
Nestlé said at the time it is “shocked and deeply saddened by the invasion of Ukraine” and the company stands with the international community in calling for peace and the restoration of security and stability.
Many companies have already left Russia like Heineken, Carlsberg, Universal Music, McDonald’s, and Starbucks. They left to support the end of the war as well as the people of Ukraine.
It is the sad truth of war as we see children suffering in Ukraine, cutting the supply of essential goods could mean suffering for Russians. The people of Russia did not sign up for the war and yet they are being asked to pay for it. Is it right to ask a company to starve the people of another country who did not sign up for the war?