The French company Bonduelle got into a scandal in Ukraine and was forced to deny support for the Russian army.
This happened after information appeared in one of the Telegram channels that Russian soldiers on the front line received food packages from the Eurasian office of the company with wishes for victory, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
A message on behalf of Bonduelle Eurasia General Director Ekaterina Eliseeva said that “each fighter also received a congratulatory leaflet”: “Sincere wishes for a speedy victory are now no less important than the food package itself».
Ukrainian nationalists immediately demanded sanctions against the company, a number of supermarket chains in Kyiv reported stopping trade in the brand’s products, and the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption accused the French of supporting “international war.”
At the same time, the Bonduelle head office issued a refutation and stated that the information about assistance to the Russian army is fake:
“This information, as well as the statements attributed to Bonduelle and his direction, are completely incorrect. The Bonduelle Group continues to operate in Russia with the sole purpose of ensuring that the population has access to basic food products in Russia and neighboring countries.”
Former Verkhovna Rada deputy Alexei Mushak said on NV radio that it is stupid to demand that Bonduelle and other foreign companies stop cooperation with Russia, because this country is a big market for them, unlike Ukraine:
“You need to understand one simple thing - despite the fact that Russia has already been recognized as a state sponsor of terrorism by the European Parliament, there are a large number of sanctions against it, Russia has something that, for example, Ukraine does not have - a large domestic market with a large number of buyers, solvent Russians who are ready to buy products.
As long as this situation remains, and Ukraine will be less attractive in this regard than Russia, such cases with Bonduelle and other international brands will be repeated, because, after all, foreign companies do not want to end of losing the Russian market, because the Russian market, unlike the Ukrainian one, is significant.”