Siemens announced its decision in a statement on Thursday, according to the biznesalert.pl website.
“The company has started proceedings to wind down its industrial operations and all industrial business activities,” in Russia, it said, as quoted by biznesalert.pl.
The German giant added: “After the start of the war, Siemens put all new business in, and international deliveries to, Russia and Belarus, on hold. The comprehensive international sanctions, as well as current and potential countermeasures, impact the company’s business activities in Russia, particularly rail service and maintenance."
'We condemn the war in Ukraine'
Roland Busch, President and CEO of Siemens AG, said: “We condemn the war in Ukraine and have decided to carry out an orderly process to wind down our industrial business activities in Russia,” biznesalert.pl reported.
He went on to say: “This was not an easy decision, given our duty of care for our employees and long-standing customer relationships, in a market where we have been active for almost 170 years."
Business ties with Moscow
Siemens has long been accused of sidestepping European sanctions on Moscow, according to biznesalert.pl.
In a widely publicised case, it supplied Russia with turbines that were later used in the construction of two power plants in Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, the Polish website reported.
Siemens afterwards said it would suspend operations in Russia, but eventually resumed its business ties with Moscow, biznesalert.pl reported.
As a result, the German company delivered engines for deep well pumps used by Russia in Crimea, the Polish website said.
Siemens has a workforce of around 3,000 people in Russia, according to cnbc.com.
Friday is day 79 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: biznesalert.pl, cnbc.com, press.siemens.com