Unilever is to allow its 3,000 Russian workforce to be conscripted into the Ukraine war, while more than 7,000 Nestlé employees in the country are also at risk of being called to fight.
Nestlé has refused to say if it will intervene, as the food giant faces pressure to withdraw from the country, The Telegraph reported.
Russian law requires any business operating in the country to allow the conscription of workers if they are called on.
Unilever chief business operations and supply chain officer, Reginaldo Ecclissato, has said it will “always comply with all the laws of the countries we operate in.”
It is understood that if its workers were to be conscripted, their employment contracts would be suspended and they would not be paid their wages.
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The company has faced criticism for not pulling its Russian operations and while the Marmite and Magnum owner said last year that it would review its position, it has continued to sell food in the country, including ice cream.
In a letter to campaign group B4Ukraine, Ecclissato said the Russian state could “gain further benefit” if Unilever sold the business in Russia, or that if it closed down, the consumer goods company could be “appropriated and then operated by the Russian state.”
However he added that a third option – which would see the business continuing to run with “strict contraints” that it put in place last March – “remains the best option both to avoid the risk of out business ending up in the hands of the Russian state, and to help protect our people.”
While Nestlé has refused to say if it will act to stop its staff from being called to fight in Ukraine, it told the newspaper it will “act to safeguard the wellbeing” of its workers and “protect their fundamental rights.”
Earlier this month, Russia seized control of shares belonging to Danone Russia and Carlsberg-owned brewing company, Baltika, under a presidential decree aimed at businesses from “unfriendly” countries.
The decree, which has been signed by Vladimir Putin, will see the Russian state “temporarily” managing the shares
