The boss of Cadbury-maker Mondelez has admitted he is "not pleased" that his company's taxes are helping to fund Russia's war in Ukraine — but insists staying was the "right decision".
In an in-depth interview with the BBC's Big Boss series, chief executive Dirk Van de Put acknowledged the moral cost of remaining in Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. "We pay taxes in Russia that helps the war. I'm not pleased about that," he said.
“Mondelez CEO admits taxes help fund Ukraine war but defends staying in Russia.”
Yet Van de Put defended the choice, warning that pulling out would risk thousands of jobs and leave the company's local operations vulnerable to Kremlin seizure. "They would have confiscated our plant," he said. "It would have probably given them a much bigger source of income, keep on selling our products to fund the war."
Many Western firms, such as McDonald's, exited Russia outright. Mondelez instead halted new investment and suspended advertising, but continued generating between $1bn (£745m) and $1.4bn a year in sales from the country.
The decision drew fierce criticism from UK politicians. Last year, more than 70 MPs signed a letter from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ukraine to Van de Put, demanding Mondelez sever its business ties. Alex Sobel, the group's chair, wrote: "Continuing to operate in a nation responsible for the deaths of countless Ukrainian civilians and the abduction of thousands of children cannot be justified under any definition of 'business as usual'."
Van de Put pushed back. "I think over time you try to be neutral in the whole conflict. We're not trying to take any side," he said. "I think we did the right thing for our people in Russia. Can we be criticised for that? Yeah, of course."
The company, which also owns Philadelphia cream cheese, Ritz crackers and Toblerone, continues to operate in Ukraine — a country where the war is an everyday reality. On the morning Van de Put spoke to the BBC, an office building there had been hit. "Everybody's safe," he said. "But yes, it's the reality of the situation."
Mondelez runs two manufacturing plants in Ukraine: one in Trostyanets, near the Russian border, and another in Vyshhorod, close to Kyiv. "One plant got hit twice, we've rebuilt it twice," Van de Put said, noting the cost is tens of millions each time. "We've agreed that we will rebuild every single time there so we keep on investing in the country. We doubled everybody's ..." The sentence trailed off, but the commitment was clear: even as taxes from its Russian operations fuel the war, Mondelez insists it will keep rebuilding in Ukraine.