(Bloomberg) -- Tension over the conflict in Ukraine -- and the role U.S. companies should play in opposing Russia’s invasion -- is playing out within Epam Systems Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company with a large work force in Ukraine. 

Dozens of current and former Epam employees sharply criticized a LinkedIn post from the company’s chief executive officer, Arkadiy Dobkin, that vowed support for Ukraine but didn’t mention or condemn Russia’s actions. Dobkin was lambasted on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

The strife is particularly pronounced at Epam, which has 14,000 employees in Ukraine, in addition to staff in Belarus and Russia. The internal dissension had added to pressures on management already beset by business problems. On Monday, Epam plunged 46% after the company withdrew its first quarter and 2022 guidance, citing “heightened uncertainties” from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

And it came as other companies in the U.S. and in Europe took steps to curb business ties with Russia, including BP Plc, Apple Inc. and Boeing Co. 

Among the critics was a contractor for Epam who said he was blocked from accessing company computer systems after calling on top executives to assist Ukraine’s effort to counter Russia’s invasion. Some Epam employees, along with other Ukrainians and tech workers for other companies, urged Epam to take a tougher stance against Russia, such as helping to fund Ukraine’s military.

Maksym Chernikov, a Ukrainian native, said he urged the company’s leadership in an email to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine. He said he also encouraged Epam officials to provide resources to support a makeshift Ukrainian “cyber army” that has used cyberattacks to target Russian companies and government agencies. Chernikov said he works as a contract senior software engineer at Epam.

“Now it is extremely important that the company’s management show resoluteness in this initiative,” he wrote in the message, which was reviewed by Bloomberg News. “There is a war going on in Ukraine. And although hostilities are currently taking place on the territory of one country, this war will affect the whole world, everyone, if it is not stopped here and now.”

Within 20 minutes of sending the email, Chernikov said his access to the company’s internal systems was cut off. He said he doesn’t know if he still has a job at the company.

“I was blocked from all Epam internal communication tools -- Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Outlook,” he said. 

An Epam representative didn’t respond to requests for comment. Dobkin didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Epam, which specializes in digital product design, has more than 58,000 employees in more than 40 countries, including Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the company’s website. 

Dobkin, the CEO, wrote in a post on LinkedIn on Sunday that the company was “doing absolutely everything we can to save, help and support logistically and financially Ukrainian Epamers and their families.”

“Today we stand United in support of the people of Ukraine and against all forms of aggression against them,” he added. “The war must be stopped NOW.” 

But his post was met with a fierce response, with more than 350 comments from employees and others on LinkedIn, many of whom weren’t satisfied with Dobkin’s remarks and criticized him for failing to mention Russia or its president, Vladimir Putin, by name.

Illia Khoroshykh urged Dobkin to called for the ends of “offensive acts of Putin immediately and explicitly!”

“As your current Ukrainian employee I am asking you to make clear statement: ‘Russia is an aggressor. Belarus is an aggressor’,” Khoroshykh wrote in a post on LinkedIn, where he describes himself as a software engineer at Epam. “This should be an official company position. and it should be promoted to every single employee.”

Epam was criticized on other social media sites too, from employees and others. “I have been working for this company for seven years and actually still am, but right now I am beyond disappointed, I am furious with the company,” Yuliya Prach wrote on Facebook. “You have so much money, influence, power to help us out, but you prefer to just write some empty politically correct words and think that you did everything you could. The truth is -- you did nothing.” Prach says she is a software engineer at Epam on LinkedIn.

Aleksandr Shcherbanyuk, who says he works as a developer for Epam in Ukraine, said he read Dobkin’s post huddled in his basement with his wife and two children, preparing for Russian bombs.

“Tomorrow is a working day at Epam, and I don’t know if I’ll live to see it,” he added. “I  understand that our company is multinational and we need to be politically correct and restrained, but I beg you to help!”

 

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