WARSAW, Poland—
It is a painful choice for companies based in countries like France and Italy, which do extensive business in Russia and are keeping their sights on future trade once the war is over. However, many corporations with big stakes in Russia have pulled out and are enduring the hit to their bottom lines. Such French companies with significant operations in Russia have been singled out by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as aiding Russia’s war effort. In an address to the French parliament in March, he mentioned carmaker Renault, Leroy Merlin and two other retailers belonging to Adeo Group: supermarket chain Auchan and sporting goods chain Decathlon.
Dominik Gąsiorowski, top organizer of the Polish Leroy Merlin Boycott movement, believes withholding business to a company that’s a major taxpayer in Russia is one of the few concrete things regular people can do to influence the outcome of the war.