Seoul's Kyiv visit and Moscow's takeover of Danone and Baltika
A look back at two developments from 15 and 16 July 2023, one offering aid to Ukraine and the other targeting Western-owned businesses in Russia.
What did the weekend before 17 July 2023 reveal about the wider pressures of the war in Ukraine? Two reports, one from Kyiv and one from Moscow, pointed in different directions: one concerned new support for Ukraine, the other concerned the fate of foreign companies in Russia.
On 15 July 2023, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol made an unannounced visit to Kyiv. He met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and announced that South Korea would pledge US$150 million in additional aid to Ukraine.
Moscow moves on foreign assets
On 16 July 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised a temporary state takeover of the shares of French agribusiness Danone and of Baltika, the brewer owned by Carlsberg. The decision formed part of a wider response to the many private companies, these two among them, that had been reducing their business operations in Russia during the war.
The reduction of corporate activity in Russia was part of a broader pattern. Many private companies had ceased operations in Russia, or donated or matched donations to the Ukrainian government or Ukrainian organisations, in response to Russia's seizure of Ukrainian territory in 2014 and 2022. Others had applied various sanctions.
Seen together, the two reports of 15 and 16 July 2023 showed how the war was being felt beyond the battlefield: in new pledges of money for Ukraine from a partner state, and in Moscow's decision to place the shares of Western-linked businesses under temporary state control.
