Koch Industries, which faced fire in March for not leaving Russia in a knee-jerk fashion after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, has completed its withdrawal, saving hundreds of jobs in the process that unsurprisingly won zero coverage from the firm’s media and political critics.
Koch President Dave Robertson announced the sale of Guardian Glass plants in Russia after negotiating a deal to help the 600 employees while making sure that the Russian government did not interfere or make money off the transfer.
“This is an outcome facilitated and supported by plant employees and complies with all applicable sanctions, laws and regulations,” he said in a statement. “We continue to condemn Russia’s actions and aggression in Ukraine and remain united in support of all who have been harmed by this horrible conflict,” he added.
Like many U.S.-based international companies, Koch condemned the war early but faced media and political criticism for not immediately shutting down operations in Russia. Its Guardian Glass has international clients and 600 employees. For example, it made the glass that protected the Mona Lisa from a recent attack at the Louvre in Paris.
In Washington, liberal senators who regularly attack the libertarian company ganged up to hit it. “Koch Industries is shamefully continuing to do business in Putin’s Russia and putting their profits ahead of defending democracy,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Ron Wyden in a joint statement.
However, Koch said it wouldn’t leave its workers behind and mapped out a withdrawal that would save those jobs. Along the way, it provided $1.85 million in general support and employee assistance to humanitarian and refugee organizations in the region.
After initially moving to shut down the glass operations, Russian officials threatened to punish workers if they went through with the plan, prompting Koch to find a buyer.
“While Guardian’s business in Russia is a very small part of Koch, we will not walk away from our employees there or hand over these manufacturing facilities to the Russian government so it can operate and benefit from them,” said Robertson in mid-March. “Doing so would only put our employees there at greater risk and do more harm than good,” he added.
For Koch’s critics, that wasn’t good enough. A Washington Post columnist went so far as saying Koch was giving a “valentine to Vladimir Putin” in staying.
But the company stuck to its methodical withdrawal, which also ended other business activities in Russia, leaving it with no footprint in the country.
Late last week, Robertson said, “In recent months, I have kept you apprised of the latest business updates regarding the two Guardian Glass plants in Russia with approximately 600 employees. In April, I shared that Guardian was working with its local management team to find an exit strategy that maintained our commitment to employees’ safety and did not result in the Russian government taking over the plants and financially benefiting from them.”
“As of today, Guardian has responsibly and safely accomplished this — having sold its business in Russia to Vladimir Alexandrovich Voronin, President of FSK Group, a private enterprise in the construction industry.”
Now, a week after selling Guardian, critics remained mum, and that has some calling foul.
For example, one Washington political adviser said, “The height of hypocrisy is the media and Democratic senators creating a threatening storm around companies like Koch shouting to pull out of Russia, but after it does so, there is complete silence. Fair coverage would have given credit to Koch for getting out of the country the right way and protecting its employees instead of simply handing the keys to Putin.”
