Heineken sorry for 'doubt' on vow to quit Russia

Dutch brewing giant Heineken apologised on Tuesday for creating "ambiguity" over its pledge to leave Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, insisting that it still planned to do so.

The world's second biggest beer company blamed difficult conditions and bureaucracy for failing to find a buyer for its Russian operations, a year after first saying it was stopping production there.

Heineken has faced social media calls for a boycott after a Dutch investigative website reported in February that the brewer was continuing to do business in Russia.

Although Heineken stopped selling its namesake beer, it had launched 61 new products on the Russian market, including at least three types of beer under its Amstel brand, said the website, Follow the Money.

"We recognise that we should’ve been clearer earlier about the need to introduce new products and the questions raised about this are understandable," Heineken said in a statement.

"We realise this has created ambiguity and doubt about our promise to leave Russia. For this we apologise."

But Heineken added, "There’s no ambiguity about our promise: we will leave Russia."

The brewer first issued a statement on February 22 denying it had broken its promise to leave.

Reiterating many of the same points on Tuesday, it said it was trying to "secure the future livelihoods" of employees in Russia and was "avoiding nationalisation" that would benefit Moscow.

"It's challenging to close a transaction in Russia at the moment as rules continue to shift," Heineken said.

"We fully recognise that it's frustrating that the sale is not yet completed. We're also frustrated by how long the process is taking."

Heineken was among major brands including Apple, McDonald's and others that announced pullouts from Russia in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on February 22 last year.