Major EU firms lose 100bn euros in Russian business: Report

Major European financial firms have suffered at least 100 billion euros in direct losses from Russian markets since the outset of the Ukraine conflict back in February 2022, a new report unveils citing a survey study of their annual financial statements.

“A survey of 600 European groups’ annual reports and 2023 financial statements shows that 176 companies have recorded asset impairments, foreign exchange-related charges and other one-off expenses as a result of the sale, closure or reduction of Russian businesses,” the UK-based Financial Times newspaper reported Sunday.

“The aggregate figure does not include the war’s indirect macroeconomic impacts such as higher energy and commodities costs,” the daily further noted.

“Financial companies — including banks, insurers and investment firms — have recorded €17.5 billion in writedowns and other charges,” it declared, citing the study.

The report also pointed out that the heaviest losses were inflicted on giant oil companies, although their massive profits due to surging oil and gas prices made up for the loss of the Russian business.

“The heaviest costs of withdrawal are concentrated in a few exposed sectors. Those with the biggest writedowns and charges are oil and gas groups, where three companies alone — BP, Shell and TotalEnergies — reported combined charges of €40.6 bln,” the daily stated.

It then explained, however, that such losses were outweighed by huge aggregate profits due to the climbing oil and gas prices.

The report further noted that losses incurred by industrial companies, such as automakers, stood at 13.6 billion euros.

The report, emphasized, however, that the Ukraine conflict has delivered a major profit boost to the weapon-manufacturing industry.

The report comes as several European countries, including Britain, France and Germany, have been hit by unprecedented economic and energy crisis during the war in Ukraine due to unilateral Western sanctions on Moscow as Europe is highly dependent on Russia’s gas.

The Disruption in supply chains has led to higher fuel and food prices across the EU, driving inflation to record levels and causing the cost of living to soar.

Several rounds of protests have been held in different European cities including in Berlin and Prague in order to express opposition to what they describe as NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine.

Hundreds of German protesters took to the streets in Nuremberg last month to call on the West to stop deliveries of weapons — including US-made cluster munitions — to Ukraine.

The protest, organized by anti-war activists, further denounced Ukrainian politicians as puppets of Washington.