Dutch health technology company Philips made a deal last summer for the supply of medical equipment with the son-in-law of Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov, a self-proclaimed ‘foot soldier’ of Putin.
Stopping the provision of medical supplies to Russia would ‘increase the terrible impact of the war on human lives,’ the company says.
A member of the Dutch Parliament, Jan Paternotte, has called this excuse ‘deeply cynical’, writes Follow the Money. ‘Philips is undermining our policy towards Russia and legitimizing the regimes of Kadyrov and Putin.’
Paternotte would like to see specialized medical equipment included in the next sanctions package against Russia. ‘With these kinds of deals, Putin manages to keep the war away from ordinary Russians. Only when they start to feel it will Russia be weakened.’
Philips, too, should feel the consequences of making deals with Kadyrov’s clan, Paternotte believes. ‘Who knows, shareholders might start to take interest once they realize that this way of doing business could impact government support for a company like Philips.’
Following the 2022 invasion, the company ‘strongly’ condemned the war, but decided to remain in Russia. Philips stated that it would stop selling consumer products in Russia, focusing solely on the sale of medical devices. By remaining in Russia in this way, Philips is now more dependent than ever on the Russian state, Follow the Money notes. Healthcare in Russia is in the hands of the government, which means that a Dutch multinational conglomerate does business with Kremlin-affiliated government officials.
B4Ukraine calls on the Dutch government to remove subsidies from Phillips and other firms still active in Russia. Excluding them from participation in government tenders could also provide an effective way of encouraging Dutch businesses to withdraw from the Russian market, thus depriving the Kremlin from an additional source of war financing.