Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: ERIC PIERMONT / AFP 17:31 p.m., November 25, 2023

L'Oréal maintains a "restricted activity" in Russia, said Saturday its CEO Nicolas Hieronimus at the microphone of France Inter. The global cosmetics giant has so far avoided the fate of its compatriot Danone or Denmark's Carslberg, which saw the Russian state take control of assets in the country in mid-July.

The French cosmetics giant L'Oréal maintains a "restricted activity" in Russia, said Saturday its chief executive Nicolas Hieronimus at the microphone of France Inter, while many foreign companies have left the country since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

"We (...) We have maintained a limited part of our activity in Russia," Hieronimus said on the programme "On n'arrêt pas l'éco", when asked about the fate of the Kaluga plant, south of Moscow. This factory, inaugurated in 2010, manufactures shampoos and hair dyes, as well as hygiene products and baby products.

Auchan and TotalEnergies still active in Russia

These are "the essential products of daily life that allow us to run our factory a little, to pay salaries and to preserve the safety of our employees in Russia", continued Nicolas Hieronimus, "and this is what I believe allows us today, I hope, to avoid seizures or actions that could be taken against our assets and especially against our employees".

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L'Oréal is not the only French company to have remained in Russia despite the outbreak of the war in Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022: Auchan and TotalEnergies are active there, according to a list drawn up by Yale University. The global cosmetics giant has so far avoided the fate of its compatriot Danone or Denmark's Carslberg, which saw the Russian state take control of assets in the country in mid-July.

L'Oréal had announced on March 8, 2022 that it would temporarily close its stores in Russia, but maintain its factory located near Moscow. The company, with a wide range of products from Mixa soap to Yves Saint-Laurent fragrances, had 2,200 Russian employees at the time.