The Danish industrial giant Grundfos is preparing itself for the worst-case scenario as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia continues to simmer.

The world's largest pump manufacturer has begun stocking up its critical warehouses in Russia, its second-largest market in the world after China.

“It’s very worrying and we are preparing for the worst,” Søren Ø Sørensen, the head of Grundfos, told Børsen newspaper. “Russia means a lot to us, and so we have to take precautions.”

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Fear of Russian reprisals
Grundfos is stocking up its warehouses in Russia so that the company is well prepared for potential trade barriers and sanctions, although Sørensen expects that the worst reprisals will stem from the Russians themselves.

“I think that the worst will come from the Russians. We have seen before that they can become fierce and react severely if they believe that someone is meddling with their affairs,” Sørensen said.

Grundfos, which has 18,000 employees worldwide, has an annual turnover in Russia of about two billion kroner.