General Mills announced Saturday that it has stopped advertising and suspended all capital investment in its cereal business in Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine.
The company's footprint in Russia is small — less than 1% of total sales — and operations there are managed by a joint venture with Nestle known as Cereal Partners Worldwide.
The company does not have any of its own plants, employees or distributors in Russia.
"As a company we are focused on the growing refugee crisis," the company said in a statement released Saturday. "We are actively working on ways to help those impacted by this war through donations of food and water, including donations to food banks and local charities to help those in need in Ukraine and the neighboring countries."
General Mills is the Golden Valley-based maker of Cheerios, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Pillsbury and other products; it had $18.1 billion in sales in its most recent year, and a net of $1.1 billion in nonconsolidated joint-venture sales.
