Free Republic

Estee Lauder and IBM have become the latest Western brands to abandon Russia - but major international companies such as Reckitt, Unilever and British American Tobacco are staying put. Both New York-listed firms said they would suspend all their operations in the country. Estee Lauder, which earns 2.7% of its revenues there, will shut all its stores. They join a wave of blue chip companies that have left in protest at Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine - but others have risked a consumer backlash by choosing not to follow them. UK consumer goods titans Unilever and Reckitt have both condemned...