JCB defends supplying Russia after Ukraine invasion
JCB continued to supply equipment for Russia “in a small number of cases” despite claiming to have stopped after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to an article by The Guardian, the Staffordshire-headquartered digger-maker was still operating in the Russian market months after the full-scale assault, despite saying it had stopped.
The article cites Russian customs records which the paper said shows JCB, which is owned by the billionaire Bamford family, was still making new products available to dealers in Russia after the invasion on March 2, 2022.
At the time, JCB publicly stated that it had “voluntarily paused exports” to Russia.
However, in a statement issued to City A.M, JCB said that “in a small number of cases” products were collected by a third party company after the invasion.
It added that “any such collection was pursuant to contractual obligations already entered into and completed or substantially completed prior to that date”.
The company also said that “to suggest otherwise is completely false”.
A JCB spokesman said: “JCB has done exactly what it said it was going to do on the 2 March 2022; that was to voluntarily pause all of its operations in Russia including the export of machines and spare parts.
“Since then, it has completely withdrawn from Russia, including shutting down its small assembly facility in Moscow resulting in many long standing and loyal colleagues in Russia being made redundant.
“All of JCB’s concerted efforts have been to support its complete withdrawal from the Russian market.
“In a small number of cases as identified in the Guardian article, JCB products were collected by a third party company after 2 March 2022.
“Any such collection was pursuant to contractual obligations already entered into and completed or substantially completed prior to that date. To suggest otherwise is completely false.”