Zelenskyy asks French companies to leave Russia

“French companies must leave the Russian market. Renault, Auchan, Leroy Merlin and others, they must stop being the sponsors of Russia’s war machine ”in Ukraine, he declared in a speech broadcast by videoconference to French deputies and senators.

“They must stop financing the murder of children and women, the rape,” he insisted. “Everyone will remember that values ​​are worth more than profits,” he warned.

The DIY brand Leroy Merlin, very established in Russia, its second market behind France, claims 36,000 employees in this country, who operate in 107 hypermarkets and 62 cities.

Employees of the Ukrainian branch of Leroy Merlin asked the brand on Monday to cease its activities in Russia after the bombing of a store of the group in Kyiv.

The Auchan chain of stores is also emblematic of mass distribution in Russia, where it operates 231 stores for a turnover of 3.2 billion euros or more than 10% of its overall activity.

Other iconic international brands such as Sweden’s Ikea and the fast-food chain McDonald’s, on the other hand, have suspended their operations in Russia in reaction to the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia is also the second-largest market for the Renault automobile group in the world behind Europe. The French manufacturer is present through the AvtoVAZ group, which halted part of its production in mid-March due to a shortage of components linked to Western sanctions imposed on Russia.

Renault is all the more exposed as it is associated in Russia with the Russian public conglomerate Rostec, headed by Sergei Tchemezov, an ally of Vladimir Putin.

The French group TotalEnergies, also criticized for its maintenance in Russia, somewhat distanced itself on Tuesday from this strategic country by announcing that it would renounce all purchases of Russian oil or petroleum products, at the latest by the end of the year.