Just last month, Russia seized four of Rockwool’s in the country following a decree by President Vladimir Putin. This is already having consequences.
In a press release obtained by Danwatch, Rockwool’s new Russian management states that it is donating 600 million rubles (just under 50 million Danish kroner) to the Russian military.
The money is being donated specifically to Putin’s so-called All-Russia People’s Front and is intended for “soldiers involved in the special military operation,” the press release states. It emphasizes that the funds are earmarked for new drones, vehicles, communications equipment and modern electronic warfare systems.
“Corporate responsibility is not only about taxes and jobs. It is about staying loyal to your country during tough times and being willing to support those who face adversity while defending their homeland. For us, it is a matter of principle,” an unnamed representative of Rockwool Russia says in the statement, which has also been published in the Russian state media outlet TASS.
“It is crucial to provide our soldiers with equipment that protects them better and saves lives,” the spokesperson says.
The press release also states that Rockwool in Russia will now resume its cooperation with the military-industrial complex, which, according to the press release, was suspended by the Danish head office in 2022.
“Terrible situation”
Danish Rockwool is one of the few large Danish companies to have maintained its presence in Russia throughout the country’s nearly four-year war against Ukraine.
However, in January this year, Rockwool’s four Russian subsidiaries were taken over by the Russian authorities and placed under external administration. A move that Rockwool’s CEO, Jes Munk Hansen, at the time called “a clear violation of all international rules” and “indisputably illegal by any standard.”
Danwatch has asked Rockwool in Denmark about the latest developments. In an email response, Rasmus Windfeld, press officer at Rockwool Group, writes:
“We read the same articles as everyone else about large sums of money that the current Russian administrators are apparently transferring from Russian factories to Russian forces in Ukraine. But apart from the articles, we have no knowledge of the state of affairs, because we have no means of control over or communication with the factories there,” and Rasmus Windfeld adds:
“It is a terrible situation.”
In connection with the seizure of the factories, Rockwool said that since the start of the war in 2022, it has withdrawn just over 400 million Danish kroner from its Russian business, which has been placed in a fund for the benefit of Ukraine.
Regular supplier to the military
For many years, Rockwool’s four factories in Russia have been a highly profitable business for the Danish billion-kroner group. At times, the Russian market has accounted for nearly a tenth of Rockwool’s global revenue.
As Danwatch has previously revealed, parts of the Russian business have been targeted at the Russian military, with which the company has worked closely for many years through a Russian partner.
Special insulation products developed by Rockwool for marine use and marketed to warships, among others, have thus been sold and delivered for use in at least 31 newly built Russian warships and submarines. Often in enormous quantities of many tens of thousands of square meters at a time.
In addition, Rockwool’s products are also in demand and supplied to some of Putin’s most secret and highly secure nuclear weapons bases across the country as part of a massive modernization program. Here, the company’s products have been specified in the original blueprints as products that cannot be replaced by other brands.
Rockwool has repeatedly denied knowledge of its cooperation with the Russian military.
Danwatch has also previously revealed that Rockwool has paid millions of kroner in taxes in Russia, including a special ‘war tax,’ where part of the revenue is earmarked for the war in Ukraine. Read that article here.
