Siemens withdraws from Russia - "It was not an easy decision for us" 

Created: 05/12/2022, 08:58

By: Thomas Schmidtutz

Siemens: The Munich industrial giant pulls the ripcord in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

© Daniel Karmann/dpa

The Munich industrial giant Siemens is finally turning its back on Russia.

That's not cheap, as the quarterly figures show.

Munich - Siemens wants to completely give up its business in Russia.

"We condemn the war in Ukraine and have decided to end our industrial business activities in Russia in an orderly process," said CEO Roland Busch on Thursday morning.

Siemens has already initiated appropriate procedures to stop industrial operations and all industrial transactions.

As soon as the war began, Siemens suspended its new business and all deliveries to Russia and Belarus.

Now the complete withdrawal from the Russian market takes place.

"This decision was not easy for us," explained Busch, referring to the duty of care towards the employees and customers on site.

Siemens is currently examining the consequences for the workforce and will “continue to support them to the best of their ability”.

Siemens employs around 3,000 people in the giant empire and accounts for around one percent of sales. 

Siemens: Significant increase in sales

In the second quarter, however, the industrial giant continued on its growth path.

"The increased order intake and sales once again reflect the trust our customers have in us." Sales were 17 billion euros, 16 percent more than a year ago, and order intake even increased by 32 percent to almost 21 billion euros.

At the same time, Siemens confirmed the forecast for the current year.

The "continuous management of the challenges in the supply chain" means that Siemens as a whole "looks confident about the second half of the fiscal year," explained CFO Ralf Thomas.