Ingvar Kamprad, pushed hard for IKEA to enter Russia before the March 2000 opening of its first outlet in Khimki, just north of Moscow, despite opposition from his own management, Sveriges Radio reports.
IKEA’s establishment in Russia has been exposed to bureaucratic disagreements, extortion attempts and bribe demands for.
In an interview with Sveriges Radio Kampran said that IKEA has been “cheated” out of 1.5 billion SEK (190 millionUSD) in gas and electricity bills. Russian suppliers have failed to fulfill their contractual obligations to provide electricity at IKEA’s 11 Russian stores, forcing the company to buy its own generators and shoulder a significant increase in operating costs, Kampran said.
IKEA’s only store in the Barents Region is located in the Swedish town Haparanda, adjacent to the Finnish town Tornio.
