Koch Industries Continues Operations at Russian Factories

MarketWatch

Koch Industries breaks silence on Russia to say it will continue to operate its 2 glass facilities

Koch Industries, the Wichita, Kan., company run by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch, released a statement on its Russia operations on Wednesday, in which it said it would continue to operate its glass manufacturing facilities. The company, which has bucked the trend of U.S. companies withdrawing or curtailing their activities in Russia following its invasion of neighboring Ukraine, said its two glass manufacturing facilities that are part of Guardian Industries, a company it acquired in 2017, employ about 600 people, and that outside of that it employs 15 individuals in Russia. “While Guardian’s business in Russia is a very small part of Koch, we will not walk away from our employees there or hand over these manufacturing facilities to the Russian government so it can operate and benefit from them (which is what The Wall Street Journal has reported they would do),” Chief Operating Officer Dave Robertson said in a statement.