How broken values and abusive managers can ruin you life. My PUMA story.

I have been in a dire situation for 134 days: morally, mentally, emotionally, and physically I live under constant stress from the thought that in 90 days the funds to support my family will run out… This is a personal story about what is at stake for me right now — the life, well-being, and health of my children.

Exactly 4 months have passed since my unjustified dismissal, and now I literally have nothing with which to feed my family, provide for their welfare and safety, or pay for the treatments and support that my children’s health and mental state depend on.

My younger daughter has a rare dental anomaly that requires expensive treatment. We have already invested thousands of dollars, and if we do not continue treatment now — while she is small and her bones are still plastic — this could turn into a major jaw and cranial bone operation in the future.

My older daughter has been the target of bullying at school because she is an immigrant; she requires ongoing psychological support to help her recover from deep anxiety and depression.

I won’t even start on the fact that for children to thrive, they need a caring environment. Instead, we face losing extracurricular activities, losing access to quality education and healthcare, and parents living in constant stress — all of which damage both physical and mental health.

We are in a foreign country, without work — a job from which #PUMA managers unjustifiably removed me — and practically without resources. Access to the funds we still have is blocked, because my wife’s bank accounts have also been frozen by the authorities of the Russian Federation. Returning home is not an option: in Russia we would be at risk for dissent and for supporting pacifist views as soon as we set foot in the Moscow airport.

So I have nothing left to lose. Returning to our homeland is impossible for us, and life in the country that became our true home over the last three years — because of its history, people, and culture — is now threatened by the actions of PUMA Group .

I want to note that, in addition to everything I described earlier, PUMA paid a tiny fraction of what was publicly promised as an "exit plan", before starting firing people before announcing layoffs” — another factor I perceive as systemic injustice and discrimination. My dismissal, after two years of humiliation, was deliberately turned into a cynical, humiliating “routine” termination covered as a layoff, but even in that case #PUMA failed to keep their promises.

While those who took the plan, were informed before, paid in full and trying to stabilize their life, I was kicked from the company in an abusive way left to survive on the savings.

I will not pretend everything is fine: I will tell it as it is, because the health of my daughters depends on it. This is not only my issue — it is a story about how easily people can be stripped of basic security, mental health, and their children’s well-being, despite absolute openness, professionalism, and consistent work for the company’s benefit.

I have no arguments left except my experience and the evidence I have made public and available to everyone, and I thought that in a normal, modern world that would be enough. Now I am struggling to answer the question: Is this still a normal world?

If it is still a normal world, then why are sadists like @Aldo Molina Pajarito still in their positions? It pains me to accept that public opinion is ultimately shaped by pathetic and hypocritical people. The system is set up so that the dissenting voice within the corporate machine is muted or completely silenced.

I will not be a silenced voice of that system — I demand justice. Because tomorrow this could happen to anyone. And if we do not have functioning protections against arbitrary power, the worst of the worst will come knocking at your door next.

I am exhausted from fighting for myself, but people who reached out to me with support and the fact PUMA took my page down, gave me addition gas.

Do you know there are effective ways to handle workplace bullying? Well, they are not so effective at PUMA.

Stay calm. ❌ Doesn’t help at PUMA.

I was always calm. Maybe I overdid it — right, @Aldo Molina Pajarito? Every time you twisted reality, used my vulnerabilities, gatekept me from decisions and people, I stayed calm. When I lost my composure, your tactic was to ignore me, not try to have a dialogue. That pattern worked very well for you.

The following is the first NOT calm message.

Address the issue early before it escalates and report the bullying to HR ❌At PUMA this turns into information that can be used against you.

Eileen Ryser — how many long messages did I send you? Do you remember? I believed you were on my side. After six months of conversations, the only response was an awkward meeting with four of us including Aldo Molina. That meeting felt like an ambush, you booked it 15 mins before it started, no name, no description, no explanation; I was cornered and pressured to sign documents. When I asked Eileen Ryser to talk to another department head about a possible transfer, her answer was, in effect, “I wish I could've addressed your issue earlier. If you have questions. reach out to Catalina Pena".

That person that was bullying me in front of you? The person who was always saying "I need to satisfy my boss first" or "You don't understand the culture"? If the culture is to satisfy your boss, than you did a great job, Eileen.

I did report these issues to HR at urgent times too. When I got kicked, I found a way to access MS Teams through my old phone until I gout completely plugged off the next Monday (I was fired on Friday).

Dietmar Knoess and Dr. Raliza Koleva replied that they would take action — but the next step they took was to downplay everything to the regional level and disappear from the CC list. Raliza took everyone out of the email thread I have created, leaving Diego A. Di Giacomo , the ex Compliance office, who attended the only compliance meeting with me absolutely NOT interested. Then a month ignore, that I have discovered that he left PUMA. Nice.

Until now, my personal messages were ignored for four months. It hurts, especially when HR leaders post publicly about caring for vulnerable people like migrants, minorities, different background.

It hurts even more, when Dietmar Knoess silently likes your personal public open up.

Come on PUMA Group , adjust your bots. I was always saying we need more technical people at PUMA, but you decided to retire them. What you rip is what you saw.

Use formal complaint channels if informal fail ❌ Malfunctions at PUMA

Even though, during the ambush meeting I was fired, Catalina Peña Tapia told me "I can go and report wherever I want", I decided to use formal complaint channels.

You don't have to listen to people like Catalina Peña Tapia . She and @Aldo Molina Pajarito was constantly telling me that "I dont understand the culture here". I think my problem is that I understand it very well, and I have traveled around the world enough to know how to treat cultures with the respect. As always, I never got a reply what is the culture is.

Compliance took 2 month to review my 14 pages comprehensive report and.. nothing happened. The case got cold and I started to question the situation.

Well nobody told me that the compliance officer I was in touch left PUMA and I had to submit my case again thru the internal integrity line service.

1 month, 3 meetings forward, the conclusion stated by Rocío González Vázquez was "yes, there was a miscommunication". The meetings were absolutely soulless, the actors were acting like I was recording them. And in fact, the last meeting I recorded with accordance of Rocío González Vázquez and a new compliance lady. This "there was some miscommunication" on the record going to be a good memory about what companies values really worth.

I tried to be diplomatic, only to be ghosted until this moment. What kind of joke is that? I sent you countless of proof was saving for 2 years how I was abused and your response "it was miscommunication" Rocío González Vázquez ?

Avoid direct confrontation in unsafe situations. ❌ At PUMA, unsafe situations are created for you.

Constant meeting rescheduling, ambush meetings, surprise calls, late-night messages, and ghosting — all of that leaves you doubting yourself. I don’t want to unfold all the screenshots here, but we are in a “I know that you know I know” situation.

My last day looked like a normal day: I had two tasks, a meeting with Juan Francisco Escallier and Tadeo Fattore , and then went to lunch.

Suddenly, Ariel G. told me to come back for a meeting.

I asked what it was about; the reply was “I’m not sure.”

When I asked Carolina Lasarte , she also claimed she doesn't know.

I don’t directly blame my local Uruguayan managers Ariel G. and Carolina L. — I think they were being manipulated by Catalina Peña Tapia — but I don’t like being made a fool of.

How is it possible that you didn’t know about the meeting when you were present with all the paperwork ready for my dismissal? That was a straight lie.

I treated you like people from my circle — this felt like betrayal. I think you knew about it a week before when you cynically put my photo on the wall at the new office.

Document every incident with dates, times, and details. ❌ Not sufficient — and never mentioned by #PUMA.

I didn’t just document everything — I built a massive, chronological, logical investigation that I designed so anyone could understand it. It’s the main proof I collected patiently for two years.

When @Aldo Molina Pajarito fired me and I walked out the door, my corporate Windows account was suspended immediately. I lost access to Teams and everything else.

Why so fast, @Aldo Molina Pajarito? Perhaps because it was orchestrated? I would lose access to my devices and files. Our meeting started at 15:30 and 15:31 I lost my access to my account.

Well, as you once said "you are a documenter person, that I don't need". Well, I haven't lost faith in my documenting skills as you can see.

Request a department transfer. ❌ Blocked and zoned.

I am a professional at what I do. When abusive managers undermine your progression, real leaders recognize passion.

That’s what happened when Antonio A. from another department asked if I’d be interested in a position there. I was secretly working behind Aldo, because he hardly gave me tasks, and I started to shine.

I reported this to Eileen Ryser and asked her to speak with Aldo. Shared this information with my allies.

I didn’t get attention, so I took matters into my own hands. After a week, during a visit to Chile I told Aldo directly. He looked unhappy and said he would talk to the cross-department head.

Fifteen minutes later, Jorge Eduardo Zubieta Del Castillo called to say I didn’t fit the role — without meeting me. That was the first and last conversation I had with him.

What happened there, Aldo? You never followed up — you simply ghosted the topic and then used criticism to undermine me. I wanted to grow and provide for my family. I always asked to grow, but you blocked every training I tried to apply for, saying it was out of budget — even when it was mandatory and others were taking it.

Keep your work performance strong to maintain credibility ❌ Overlooked and ignored

Its an elementary class problem: go to Jira and Confluence and find my profile. Then find out how many regional managers were reporting the projects they way I did and the times I did? We had a perfect infrastructure and a cross communication platform with vendors that was built my the global engineering until Aldo decided to destroy the whole thing simply not prolonging it.

Well, he didn't bother to refresh his own access when they have expired and I created and order to renew it.

Right, emails much more convenient. This is over me. The next thing happened regions and vendors started to use external tools. Shortsighted move.

It is just 1 example of many. The performance review was sabotaged by Aldo by constantly changing the dates, not giving transparent information during it, using the score to set me up in favor of dismissal.

You think, I am making it up? I am ready to take the performance review any time and any day, where I can DEMONSTRATE you PUMA, how it can be used AGAINST employees when there is no supervision.

Use assertive communication to address the bully. ❌ You’ll be punished or ghosted.

No need to add more here. I’ve said enough: Aldo is a coward — supportive or evasive in person, but a complete sadist in digital form.

Look at the screenshot above and think with me. There are 2 scenarios: Aldo as a director doesn't know about THE key stage of the most important regional process OR he booked everyone without me?

I think by know you got the answer. Not only he booked everything without me, he shared my materials with other managers. The materials were edited during those meetings . That is how I found out about them - Confluence sent me a notification, that my article was edited. This screenshot above is one of many screenshots of promised projects, exclusion, ghosting.

Build a strong network of allies. Seek support. ✅ This worked.

The only support that held up was from colleagues I treated as friends. Thank you.

@Aldo Molina Pajarito didn’t even let me write a farewell.

Many people reached out after my first post; I gained even more allies.

I have reports of at least two ongoing cases of workplace abuse connected to Aldo. I won’t name names now, but I hope my story helps others open up — not just for the company’s benefit, but to free you from that burden.

I won't stop no matter what. It is hard to tie pieces, therefore I am preparing a complete video with revealing audios and other victims testimony.

Also, I keep updating less emotional post on the workplace abuse with examples here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/family-values-fired-day-before-may-my-puma-story-ruslan-volkov-ke1of/?trackingId=U21YKaidRAmI6mhPKRugqQ%3D%3D