ALEX BRUMMER: Unilever’s Putin stand-off

Amid the drama of assembling a force of Leopard tanks and fighter jets to repulse the latest Russian offensive in Ukraine, the execution of the West’s financial crusade has slipped off the radar.

The Russian economy is in a much better position than NATO might have hoped, with the IMF forecasting recovery this year and next.

Russian oil and other trade is directed to countries that do not impose sanctions.

And despite Western support, Ukraine’s economy is being pushed to its limits, with output expected to fall another 5 percent this year.

The willingness of China, India et al. to keep trade with Vladimir Putin alive despite sanctions makes it imperative that Western companies tighten the noose.

It is humiliating for British luxury fashion house Paul Smith that its latest emblematic clothing designs could still be seen a year after the outbreak of hostilities. Smith has had to retreat in a hurry.

What is even more surprising is that Unilever, the UK’s flagship consumer goods group trading under the banner of “making sustainable living commonplace”, has remained open in Russia during the past year of horrific warfare. The maker of Dove soap, Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Magnum ice cream has made an estimated £500 million since the start of the conflict.

Unilever has a strong presence in Russia, with 3,500 employees and four major production facilities. It has maintained that it did not want to harm the well-being of its staff.

Still, one cannot escape the fact that by supplying Russia with hygiene and other products, the group is making life more comfortable for the aggressors in a blood-stained conflict.

Their continued presence is an outright affront to Unilever’s image as the apostles of ethical investing. In contrast to Unilever’s frills, some of capitalism’s big names showed little hesitation in backing out.

Goldman Sachs had a thriving investment banking arm in Russia, reaching deep into the country’s commerce. It moved quickly to cut ties with the rest of Goldman and the financial system, and the hull was bought out by local executives.

Western sanctions may have damaged living standards in Moscow, but they have not brought the country to its knees.

When first imposed, it was thought that financial measures such as cutting Putin off the Swift money transfer system and Western banks would bring his kleptocracy to its knees.

Banking sanctions finally brought the apartheid regime in South Africa to its senses. The big difference is that Pretoria was besieged by both the West and the non-aligned world.

Putin has forged an alliance of the disaffected that reinforces still unquenchable territorial ambition.

City people

When Britain left the EU, a widespread view was that the city’s ability to influence financial trading in Europe would diminish.

The EU was desperate to abandon the Anglo-Saxon model. Among other things, it proposed a restriction on dark trading – or pools that allow critical players such as large battalion investors to trade without disclosing details until they are completed. Brussels seems to have decided that if you can’t beat them, join them. Just a few weeks ago, Euronext chiefs made dubious claims that they had caught up with the London Stock Exchange in stock trading.

In an interview with The Trade magazine, Simon Gallagher, Euronext’s head of cash and derivatives admits: ‘The weight of the Financial Conduct Authority and the City in European regulation has never been greater. Post-Brexit the City is more than ever determining the rules of Continental Europe.’

The government’s position – that of all sectors of the economy, the Square Mile was fit enough to swim independently – is confirmed.

Lotus position

Remember lotus? Colin Chapman’s Norfolk-based racing and fast cars were seen as a triumph of British engineering.

But like so many brilliant British car brands, it failed commercially and ended up in the hands of China, while the advanced engineering – some of which inspired the Tesla Roadster – remained on these shores.

There are now plans to bring Lotus Technology to New York with a heady valuation of £4.4bn. What that will mean for Lotus UK, the brains and heritage behind the brand, is anyone’s guess. Why New York instead of London? Just look at the performance of Ferrari versus Aston Martin.