International extractive companies help Russia turn the energy of the Earth into the blood of Ukrainians. Stop funding the war in Ukraine!
On June 13, 2022, WeAreUkraine.info, DiXi Group, Promote Ukraine (Brussels), and other civil society organizations from all over the world released a statement calling on all Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) supporting the companies and governments to take real actions to stop supporting Russia in its aggression against Ukraine. EITI is an organization that sets a global standard for governance and transparency in the extractive sectors and, thus, can influence the role the sectors play in financing Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Since Russia has waged the full-scale war in Ukraine, the EU has imported 61% of fossil fuels exported via shipments and pipelines from Russia, approximately 57 billion EUR. And the EU response is still insufficient, as it only includes an embargo on coal and a partial embargo on oil and refined products (only on maritime supplies) with no immediate effect.
Despite their commitments to stop business with Russia, many energy companies, including Shell and TotalEnergies, continue to supply huge volumes of Russian oil under long-term contracts. Meanwhile, three of the world’s largest commodity traders — Vitol, Trafigura, and Glencore — transported more oil from Russian ports in March 2022 than they had done in the same period over at least the last three years.
Moreover, between 2014 and 2021, giants such as Shell, Exxon, and BP contributed $100 billion to Russia’s military machine, enabling the current war against Ukraine and the whole civilized world.
With this regard, ahead of the EITI Board meeting on June 16-17th, 2022, in Brussels, the organizations from Ukraine, the US, and other countries demand from the EITI supporting companies and governments to:
- immediately discontinue both new and existing business in Russia and with Russian fossil fuels, including exploration, production, and trading activities.
- immediately disclose and regularly update information regarding business with Russia, including the status of any equity holdings and operations in Russia; divestment decisions and processes; payments to the Russian state and Russian state-owned companies; and, for commodity trading, the term contracts, and other data.
- end the financing of aggression and unite in imposing real and effective sanctions against Russia, including the prevention of bypassing those sanctions already introduced.
Read and share the full statement here.
