On Thursday, Feb 24th, Russia invaded Ukraine in an unprovoked aggression not seen since WW II. Western companies doing business in Russia responded slowly initially but then showed their overwhelming support with companies such as McDonalds completely exiting the country.

B2B companies like Caterpillar and Komatsu were much slower than consumer brands to respond. Finally, on March 4th, Komatsu announced they would stop shipments to Russia and on March 9th, Caterpillar announced that due to supply chain issues they would stop operations at their manufacturing facilities in Russia.

Most of Caterpillar and Komatsu's sales inside Russia are from imports of parts, engines, turbines, and machines so an announcement that manufacturing operations were being stopped was not a major announcement. Komatsu's announcement was potentially stronger than Caterpillar's since it indicated it would stop all shipments to Russia.

Indications are that Caterpillar continues to import parts, machines, and engines into Russia in order to support mining and oil & gas operations that support Russia's war effort.

Since mining, oil, & gas activities in Russia support Russia's war effort, the inability to obtain parts for equipment will slowly reduce Russia's ability to wage war on innocent people. This will do much more than stopping the sale of Big Macs in Russia.

In addition, both Caterpillar and Komatsu have maintained strong relations with the Russian government throughout past sanctions and in many cases been able to continue doing business. The complete loss of support from Caterpillar and Komatsu would have a psychological impact on Russian leadership as strong as Switzerland declaring their lack of neutrality in this war.

Therefore, we are asking you to implore both Caterpillar and Komatsu to strengthen and clarify their position in Russia and Belarus with a public announcement as follows:

1. Commit to stop all shipments of parts, engines, turbines, and machines to Russia and Belarus.
2. Continue commitment to cease manufacturing operations in Russia and Belarus.
3. Commit to do everything practical to not encourage and to shut down back door import routes for parts and equipment used in Mining, Oil, & Gas activities in Russia.
4. Discontinue relations with all Russian and Belorussian public officials and  oligarchs.

The people of Ukraine and all people around the world who battle against tyranny thank you for your support!