Corporate Counsel Advance: Has your organization been impacted by the sanctions on Russia?

Manuel Liatowitsch: As a media & tech company – headquartered in Switzerland – we have probably been less impacted by the sanctions than companies in other industries. However, we have subsidiaries in many CEE countries and therefore feel the impact of the war, if not the sanctions, quite directly. Poland, for example, welcomed close to 2 million refugees from Ukraine and our companies and employees there, as in many other CEE countries, are heavily involved with helping the refugees.

CCA: How are you navigating the sanction regimes and how can the legal department help the business pivot and change as and when sanctions develop? 

Liatowitsch: For us, at the moment, it is mainly a question of dealing with the counterparty risk and making sure that we are not involved in any way with sanctioned individuals or entities. We are investing in further digitizing and automating the checks.

CCA: What are your top tips on leading a team during a difficult situation?

Liatowitsch: Set up a task force with different operational workstreams, check in often, keep everyone in the loop, encourage people to contribute with ideas and initiatives, increase internal communication, and set up aid & donation programs.

CCA: How has your organization or the in-house team supported the people of Ukraine? 

Liatowitsch: There are three initiatives from headquarters here in Switzerland that I would like to mention:

  • We participated in the Swiss national Ukraine donations day by matching all donations from our employees.
  • We started a program of monthly financial contributions from headquarters for any of our employees, who host Ukrainian refugees in their homes – in any country in Europe where the state has not implemented such a program themselves.
  • Our digital TV-station BlickTV introduced special daily reports in the Ukrainian language for the rapidly growing Ukrainian community in Switzerland.
  • In addition, there are literally dozens of admirable initiatives in many of our companies across CEE, including e.g. making our online marketplaces sites available for distributing donated goods and for posting available housing and jobs for refugees.