Firms set to build massive windfarms off Scotland must not fund 'Putin's war chest' – Scotsman comment

More than two years after Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, companies should have done more to disentangle themselves from the Russian economy

In the globalised world before February 24, 2022, Russia was, to many governments and multinational companies, simply another country with which to do business. Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch a full-scale war in an attempt to conquer Ukraine revealed his true colours as a bloodthirsty tyrant.

Clearly, those who saw Putin’s regime as a viable business partner in the years before missed multiple warning signs, or perhaps they preferred not to notice. Chinese military drills designed to test the ability of People’s ‘Liberation’ Army to “seize power” in Taiwan should not be similarly disregarded.

However, following Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and then parts of the Donbass region, the full-scale invasion of 2022 should have removed any doubts and prompted all countries and companies which value democracy to disentangle themselves from the Russian economy.

Ukrainian firefighters work to extinguish a fire at the site of a drone attack in Kharkiv earlier this month (Picture: Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images)

There should be an acceptance that this is not always an easy process and can take time. However, there should also be an acceptance that, if investments need to be lost, then so be it. These are the risks of doing deals with such a monstrous regime.

As we report today, several multinational companies set to develop massive windfarms off Scotland’s coast still have extensive business ties with major Russian fossil fuel projects. Some even hold stakes in Russian firms that are the subject of sanctions by the UK and US governments.

Svitlana Romanko, of Ukrainian campaign group Razom We Stand, which is calling for a total embargo on Russian fossil fuels, told The Scotsman that Russian assets held by the companies involved were “directly contributing to the continuing destruction in Ukraine”. “These companies are effectively funding Putin's war chest, enabling his destruction of Ukraine and contributing to the death of thousands of innocent Ukrainians,” she said.

Who are the multinational firms with Russian assets that are part of Scotwind?

More than two years after Putin’s full-scale invasion, it feels like efforts to divest from Russia should be further along. Bureaucratic excuses simply aren’t good enough. If emergency legislation is required to help companies sever their links, it should be enacted. Russian tanks rolling across Ukraine are unlikely to stop there if they win.