Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR) said stopping operations in Russia was "not straightforward" after the maker of Cornetto, Magnum and Marmite was estimated to be contributing £579mln a year to the Russian economy.
Earlier this year, the FTSE 100-listed group said it had "ceased all imports and exports" of its products into and out of Russia, and "stopped all media and advertising spend" and "all capital flows into and out of the country".
But the Ukraine government said the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant was an "international sponsor of war" after it became subject to a law in Russia obliging all large companies operating in the country to contribute directly to its war effort.
Campaign group the Moral Rating Agency calculated Unilever was providing £1.6mln a day for Moscow, based on the company previously saying its business there represented 1.4% of turnover, and called on the company’s new chief executive, Hein Schumacher, to withdraw from Russia.
Unilever's local business continues to sell “essential” products, ranging from tea to ice-cream, and was estimated to have paid US$331mln in Russian taxes last year.
"Unilever must stop hiding behind its balance sheet and excuses to face the reality that selling an ice cream can allow Putin to pay for a bullet," said Moral Rating Agency founder Mark Dixon.
Unilever, which employs around 3,000 people in Russia, said: "We understand why there are calls for Unilever to leave Russia.
"We also want to be clear that we are not trying to protect or manage our business in Russia. However, for companies like Unilever, which have a significant physical presence in the country, exiting is not straightforward."
The company said that if it leaves the country its operations "would be appropriated - and then operated - by the Russian state" and that it had been unable to find a way to sell the business that "avoids the Russian state potentially gaining further benefit, and which safeguards our people".
It said continuing to run the business with "strict constraints" was the best way forward in the circumstances.