In the end, the public pressure became too great.

After weeks of hesitation, the consumer goods group Henkel announced this week that it would completely end its business in Russia.

So far, Henkel has not only exported to Russia, but also manufactures its products at eleven local locations.

The 2,500 employees in the country would continue to be employed and paid, the priority of the group was "to do everything to support our colleagues in Ukraine," said CEO Carsten Knobel on Tuesday.

Henkel condemned "the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the violence against innocent civilians".

The Persil manufacturer had already stopped advertising in Russia after the beginning of the war, but saw no reason to give up the business completely.

Knobel still feared "far-reaching consequences"

among other things, the factories could be expropriated.

This decision had brought Henkel considerable criticism, including from the ranks of the shareholders.

Alexander Wulfers

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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The ranks of those who still trade with Russia are getting thinner and thinner these days.

Another Dax group, the software manufacturer SAP, announced this week that it is withdrawing from Russia and no longer wants to serve existing customers.

SAP had previously come under criticism because the company had announced in March that it would no longer accept new customers from Russia, but the day before had offered Russian customers to move their data to data centers abroad.

Meanwhile, the tire manufacturer Continental, which has resumed production at the Russian plant, is moving in the opposite direction.

The reason: The employees in Russia were threatened with "harsh criminal penalties" if the company "refrained from serving local demand".

With this step, Continental is more of an exception.

Metro, Storck and New Yorker “dig in”

Due to the mixture of sanctions and public pressure, the Russian Federation, just a few weeks ago one of Germany's 20 most important trading partners, has lost much of its importance for the Federal Republic.

The Federal Statistical Office published preliminary export figures for March on Thursday, which summarize this effect in figures for the first time: German exports to Russia fell by more than half, from 2.3 billion euros in February to just 1.1 billion in March.

One can assume that this trend will continue in the April numbers.

Many companies only ended their business in Russia a few weeks after the start of the war, which is not yet fully reflected in the March figures.

A team at Yale University in the United States led by economist Jeffrey Sonnenfeld has compiled a list of over 1,000 companies that have been active in Russia since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression and has been observing how they do business there ever since.

18 German companies are currently receiving the top grade A from Sonnenfeld, including Henkel recently, but also, for example, Aldi, Daimler, Lufthansa, Obi and Playmobil, all of which have completely stopped their business in Russia.

Ritter Sport, for example, does worse in the list, which is listed in category D under "Buy time".

At least the chocolate manufacturer is credited with stopping investments and advertising in Russia, even though it continues to sell sweets there.

According to the current status, seven other German companies that “dig in” failed completely in Sonnenfeld’s assessment: the retail chains Metro and Globus, the confectionery manufacturer Storck, the dairy company DMK and the industrial companies Gea, Liebherr and New Yorker.

Most of them no longer want to talk about their business in Russia, unlike after the Crimean invasion of 2014. At that time, many managers complained publicly about sanctions.

The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce did not respond to an inquiry by the time of going to press.

Your website has not been accessible since mid-March due to "maintenance work".

The advertising campaign in which well-known German companies presented themselves as “Russia champions” in February has also disappeared.