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More Than 600 Brands Have Withdrawn From Russia. How Are Russians Coping? | WSJ - YouTube
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- [Narrator] Empty
shelves at supermarkets,
[3]
the rationing of staples
and shuttered stores.
[8]
After more than a month
of fighting in Ukraine,
[10]
ordinary Russians have fewer
options when they go shopping.
[13]
More than 600 foreign brands
have announced their withdrawal
[16]
from Russia according to Yale University.
[18]
Some sided concerns about
the conflict and the safety
[21]
of staff while others left
as a U.S. and its allies
[24]
unleashed a raft of sanctions
that could complicate
[26]
business operations in the country.
[28]
- Russia has been decoupled
from the global economy
[31]
and all these goods and
services that came into Russia
[34]
over the past years
[35]
and made Russia part of the modern world.
[37]
So the ripple effects of
this are going to be massive.
[41]
- [Narrator] So here's
how people in Russia
[42]
are dealing with the economic
fallout and the glimpse
[44]
it offers into public
sentiment about the war
[47]
across the border.
[51]
In the 1990s, as the
former Soviet Union began
[54]
disintegrating, foreign
brands started setting up shop
[57]
and many were immediately popular.
[60]
Fast forward about 30
years and with the war
[62]
across the border,
hundreds of these companies
[64]
are temporarily curtailing operations
[66]
or pulling out entirely from Russia.
[68]
That's partly because running a business
[70]
under Western sanctions
is getting difficult.
[72]
For instance, several Russian
banks have been delisted
[75]
from the global financial messaging system
[77]
and that can make it trickier
to carry out basic tasks
[80]
like importing supplies
or paying employees.
[84]
Many of these brands
are beloved by Russians.
[86]
On the day, IKEA announced
that it was shutting
[88]
its 17 stores, there were
long lines of people waiting
[91]
to do their last minute shopping.
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The Swedish company's pullback
has also meant that jobs
[95]
are in limbo, even though
it said it would support
[98]
15,000 employees in the immediate future.
[100]
(man speaking foreign language)
[114]
- So far, most of the
companies that are pulling out
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have said that they will
continue paying their employees.
[119]
It's not quite clear how
long they'll be able to last,
[122]
so it's still sort of a
wait and see approach.
[125]
- [Narrator] Not all foreign
companies have chosen to leave.
[127]
Some are playing a balancing act
[129]
by staying put and scaling back.
[131]
For instance, McDonald's
said it's suspended
[133]
direct operations in
Russia but the outlets
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owned by local franchises
have remained open.
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And Pepsi said, it's halting
sales of its big soda brands
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but will continue to sell other products
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like the milk and baby food.
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The corporate pullback is
one of many pressure points
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on Russia's economy.
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A few days before Putin launched the war,
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western nations dropped
hard hitting sanctions
[154]
on the country.
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And as a Rubble plunged,
Russians lined up at ATMs
[158]
to take out cash.
[160]
This was also compounded by inflation
[162]
which has been persistently on the rise
[164]
during the coronavirus pandemic.
[166]
And now the war has made
the purchasing power
[168]
of ordinary Russians even weaker.
[170]
So some started stocking up
which has prompted supermarkets
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to restrict the sale of some products.
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Putin has vowed to carry out
a raft of measures to offset
[181]
the pain of sanctions on Russians
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and the government reassured the public
[184]
that there will be no shortage
of food or daily necessities.
[189]
But as Western sanctions
shake the Russian economy
[191]
and foreign companies
continue to scale back,
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domestic support for Moscow
and the war isn't waning.
[197]
- That even among people
that are against the war,
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there's been sort of a
blow back of thinking
[202]
how are these actual penalties,
[204]
how are Western companies
leaving really helping fix
[206]
the situation?
[207]
- [Narrator] And this anti-west
sentiment is already strong
[210]
in large swaths of the country.
[212]
For example, in one town
more than 150 miles away
[216]
from Moscow, protestors drove
cars marked with the letter Z
[219]
which has become a Russian pro-war symbol.
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- Most of rural Russian
and provincial Russia,
[225]
they rely on Russian
produced goods anyways
[227]
and this is the majority of
Vladimir Putin's support.
[229]
- [Narrator] And Putin's
popularity has increased
[231]
after Russia launched its war in Ukraine.
[234]
He had an 83% approval rating according
[236]
to the independent Russian
pollster Lavada Center.
[240]
So with no immediate
end to the war in sight,
[242]
ordinary Russians may deal
with deeper economic pain
[245]
as sanctions mount and more
companies choose to leave.
[248]
(soft upbeat music)
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