United States: A company close to the Republicans criticized for staying in Russia

Two influential Democratic senators on Thursday criticized the decision of Koch Industries, a company that contributes generously to Republican candidates’ campaigns in the United States, to remain in Russia for the time being.

“It is time for Koch Industries to put the values ​​of democracy at the expense of its profits,” Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, and Ron Wyden, the chair of the Finance Committee, said in a statement.

The group’s operations director clarified in a letter on Wednesday that he had made the decision to remain in Russia to continue supporting his employees there.

Koch’s company, Guardian Industries, has two glass plants in the country that employ about 600 people, and Koch directly employs 15 people there, explained Dave Robertson.

He justified his message in his letter saying, “While Guardian’s business in Russia is a very small part of Koch, we will not abandon our employees there or hand these manufacturing facilities over to the Russian government so that they can operate and make a profit.”

After the imposition of severe economic sanctions by several Western governments in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, many multinational companies decided to withdraw from the country or suspend their operations there.

According to a list updated by a team from Yale University, some still choose to keep their business in Russia, including Koch, Auchan or Schlumberger.

According to Open Secrets, which collects political campaign finance data, Koch Industries routinely funds the campaigns of election candidates, more than 90% of Republicans.

Its president, Charles Koch, regularly uses his fortune to advocate for very liberal positions.

Koch Industries is one of the largest unlisted companies in the United States, is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, and has operations ranging from chemical and petroleum to paper.

In their press release, the Democratic senators confirmed that they are studying a law that would prevent the granting of tax breaks in the United States for taxes that American companies would pay in Russia, as is already the case for North Korea and Syria.