Billions of dollars paid by international companies to Russia in taxes are used to finance the war against Ukraine

International companies pay about $27 billion in taxes to Russia every year, and these funds are directly used to finance the aggression against Ukraine. This was stated by Tetyana Khutor, Chair of the Institute of Legislative Ideas, in a commentary for Channel 5.

"The Institute of Legislative Ideas, together with its partners, has estimated that international companies pay about $27 billion in taxes to Russia every year. These funds are directly used against us," emphasises Tetyana Khutor.

She explains that companies that remain on the Russian market are actually being held hostage by the regime. Russia uses various blackmail mechanisms to force businesses to stay in the country and pay taxes that finance the war. In particular, Western companies face the threat of nationalisation or confiscation of their assets. That is why they often avoid any actions that could provoke a harsh reaction from the Russian authorities.

"Russia is doing everything it can to prevent Western countries from imposing sanctions on its assets. Companies that continue to operate in Russia are contributing to this idea and protecting Russian money from being frozen," Khutor said.

In particular, we are talking about $300 billion of frozen Russian sovereign assets that could be used to rebuild Ukraine. However, countries with strong economic interests in Russia are in no hurry to make decisions on how to use them.

One possible mechanism to put pressure on international business could be the introduction of a special tax on income earned from activities in Russia. This would increase the financial burden on companies operating in Russia and make this market less attractive. However, many countries are not yet ready to take such measures.

"As practice shows, many countries do not do this because they benefit from the Russian market and do not want to limit it, because the Russian market is quite large," concludes Tetyana Khutor.

The situation remains complicated, as economic interests often prevail over moral aspects. At the same time, increasing sanctions pressure and introducing additional restrictions for international businesses operating in Russia could be an effective step in the fight against financing Russian aggression.