Ukraine Questions Global Automotive Giants’ Parts in Russian Military Vehicles

In the current issue of Industry Week, Thom Fladung, managing partner of crisis communications company Hennes Communications, says the war in Europe makes it impossible for companies doing business there to stay neutral. Below, he suggests a few basic tactics if a company has been called out on social media. 

Robert Schoenberger writes…

Bosch, ZF, Danfoss and others say they only supply civilian vehicles, and supplies of those parts ceased with Western boycotts of Russia.

A Ukrainian government official launched a social media campaign Monday against some of the largest automotive supply companies in the world, saying that Ukrainian armed forces found parts from ZF, Bosch, Danfoss and other global suppliers on Russian military vehicles seized as Russia pummels its Western neighbor with rockets and artillery.

“The Ukrainian armed forces seized Russian military vehicles and discovered that the Tigr and Pantsir missile system used Bosch, ZF Group, Danfoss and MANN+HUMMEL parts,” Kostiantyn Koshelenko, Ukraine’s deputy minister of social policy, posted to LinkedIn and Twitter, along with a photo of one of the vehicles with the text “Stop the Tiger Infantry Car” on it, with the O on stop showing up as a blood stain.

In responses to his post, Koshelenko added photos of specific parts from global companies on the Russian military vehicles.

Within a few hours, the largest of the companies involved had responded, mostly by saying that they haven’t supplied parts to the Russian military for many years and have cut off supplies of parts to civilian vehicles since Russia invaded its neighbor.

“Your post is very concerning to us and rightfully demands a clear and decisive answer: ZF has put on hold all deliveries to Russia two weeks ago. This includes parts and spare parts. We have not delivered parts to Russia for vehicles that can also be used by the military since at least 1 August 2014,” ZF officials said in response, noting also that the company’s charitable arm was supporting Ukrainian charities. “Your campaign is directed at the wrong target. ZF acts not only with strict adherence to international sanctions but, importantly, high ethical standards. We therefore kindly ask you to revise your social media posts. Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people and all victims of this war.”

Thom Fladung, managing partner of crisis communications company Hennes Communications, says the war in Europe makes it impossible for companies to stay neutral.

“Russia’s attack on Ukraine is yet another example–perhaps the final, definitive piece of evidence–of how the era of businesses maintaining neutrality in the face of controversies or holding social issues at arm’s length is ended. We saw it with the social justice issues that arose in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and the Black Lives Matter movement, we saw it with COVID and now we see it with this war.”

For the rest, click here.