The American company Philip Morris International obtains its passport signed by the Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities.
A new international company is now getting negative attention from Ukraine.
And in a recent update to websites where Ukraine is pursuing sanctions it has imposed on itself and on companies it believes are financially supporting Russia, You’ll find US tobacco giant Philip Morris on Friday.
Last fall, Philip Morris made the acquisition of Swedish Match, the company behind popular soft drink brands like General, G.3 and The Lab.
Philip Morris is also the manufacturer of the Marlboro and Chesterfield cigarette brands, among many others.
It is Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Agency (NACP) that is behind the websites where Mondelez’s name was listed, among others, earlier this year.
SAS announces the action
When Mondelez ended up on the list, SAS decided, among others, to boycott the products and brands it distributed, such as Norway’s Freia.
Tunji Sund, press director for SAS, told E24 that SAS does not sell Philip Morris products on its own flights or in the lounges.
However, Marlboro cigarettes are within the tax-free range, which is part of the rental offer of some charter operators for which SAS flies.
– While we, together with Mondelez and Bacardi, can go in directly and quickly make these changes to our traffic, for charter flights it will require dialogue with many players – which we will do as quickly as possible, says Sund.
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“empty words”
“After the outbreak of a full-scale war, Philip Morris announced its intention to sell its Russian assets and get out of the toxic market. But later it became clear that these were empty words,” the Ukrainian authorities wrote about the company.
They call Philip Morris “one of the main sponsors of the war in Ukraine,” because the American company still pays huge sums of money in taxes to Russia.
The accounts of the Russian subsidiary Philip Morris Izhora show that in 2022 it increased its turnover by 8 percent, to 140.3 billion rubles. The company paid more than 12 billion rubles in taxes last year, according to Ukraine.
This is equivalent to about NOK 1.36 billion.
A number of questions were sent to Community Focal Point (External Affairs Director) Kristian Tunning Reese at Philip Morris Norway from E24. The company did not answer questions, but confirmed in a post-publication comment that it “solidarizes Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.”
– We provided emergency aid to those affected by this terrible war, including our donations of humanitarian aid, and the evacuation of thousands of people from conflict areas to safer places. We recently confirmed our commitment to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people by investing in a new factory in Ukraine, TuningRise writes.
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Ukrainian manager on Mondelez: – Their profits in Russia are our losses
Freya County
The Ukrainian list got a lot of attention in Scandinavia when Mondelez, Freia’s parent company, ended up on the list in May.
The listing led SAS and a number of other companies to boycott Mondelez products, including Daim and Freia.
After a meeting with the State Department, Elcube, the Norwegians, and Widroy reversed their position. And companies prefer to deal with the EU sanctions list, not the “black list” of Ukraine. On the other hand, SAS and Strawberry insist on boycotting.
On the other hand, the authorities and politicians in Sweden made great efforts to call for a boycott, which affected the chocolate manufacturer Marabou.
In June, Mondelez announced that the Russian company would be spun off from the rest of the company by the end of the year.
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Tobacco in the spotlight
Another tobacco company, Japan Tobacco International (JTI), is also now on Ukraine’s blacklist.
According to Ukraine, the company was supposed to get $2 billion from the Russian market in 2022.
– With regard to Russia, even if we continue to manufacture and distribute our products, there are significant operational challenges, JT Group CEO Masamichi Terabatake wrote on this occasion. Third quarter result 2022.
Under these circumstances, JT Group continues to take the necessary decisions to address the ever-changing situation, in compliance with current regulations and international sanctions.
Switzerland-based Japan Tobacco International had sales in Russia of $7.4 billion in 2021, of which $3.6 billion returned to the Russian budget, according to Ukrainian authorities.
“This is the price of about 100 Russian fighters carrying Kinjal missiles, which terrorize Ukrainian cities almost daily.” writes NACP.
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