As Western sanctions on Russia tighten, retailers are also choosing to take a stand against the invasion of Ukraine, with many brands now pulling out of the country.
Here’s a rollcall of the latest businesses who have opted to suspend trading in Russia in solidarity with the Ukraine.
Supermarkets take a stand
Sainsbury’s has opted to change the name of its popular dinner time chicken dish ‘Chicken Kiev’ to ‘Chicken Kyiv’, adopting the Ukrainian, rather than Russian, spelling of dish that shares its name with the capital city of Ukraine. M&S is reported under pressure to do the same.
A raft of supermarkets, including Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Co-op, have opted to stop selling produce sourced from Russia, taking Russian vodka off their shelves. Tesco has also opted not to buy from Russian suppliers, and rather than removing products from the shelves, won’t place any future orders with Russian businesses.
Meanwhile, Asda and its charity, the Asda Foundation, has pledge a £1 million support package for displaced Ukrainian families, who have been forced to leave their homes due to the Russian invasion.
An exodus of luxury and fashion brands
Luxury brands are also opting out of trading in Russia – a traditionally lucrative market for high-end businesses – with Burberry becoming the latest luxury goods retailer to shut stores in Russia in response to Putin’s invasion. It follows moves from Louis Vuitton, who closed 124 stores in the country, Hermès, Chanel and Prada, who are also putting principles before profits and pulling operations out of Russia.
Net a porter joined the growing list of luxury brands, including high-end department store Harrod’s, who will no longer ship to Russia or are suspending deliveries to the country.
Despite being H&M’s sixth-biggest market globally, the fashion retailer said it would pull the plug on all Russian sales. It also closed all of its Ukrainian stores for the safety of colleagues and customers.
This follows similar moves from Asos, who shut down operations in the country, and Nike, which cancelled online order fulfilment. Zara also closed 500 Russian stores.
Social platforms and payment providers removing services in solidarity
Social media platform, TikTok, and video streaming service, Netflix, have limited the availability of their platforms in Russia. TikTok’s withdrawl was in response to new Russian laws to crack down on ‘fake news’ as it looked to protect users on its platform.
Payments providers, Visa and Mastercard, also made the decision to pull out of the country, causing foreign transactions being blocked, the Guardian reported.
