Vodka producer Absolut will stop exporting its products to Russia

Swedish vodka producer Absolut and its parent company Pernod Ricard will stop exporting their products to Russia. This was announced by the CEO of the company Stephanie Durru, writes Reuters.

“While recognizing also the obligation to care for our employees and partners, we cannot subject them to massive criticism in all forms. Therefore, The Absolut Company has taken the decision to stop exporting its brand to Russia,” Dürru said in a statement.

The company also emphasized that this decision will not affect the parallel import of Absolut products, since this market has “strongly grown in recent months” and cannot be controlled.

April 11 Absolut representative Paula Ericsson in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Kristianstadsbladet informedthat the company has resumed deliveries of its goods to Russia. According to her, after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Pernod Ricard acted “taking into account the interests of its employees both in Ukraine and in Russia.” Ericsson noted that within the framework of anti-Russian sanctions, the concern supplies goods in “a volume capable of protecting local employees and ensuring economic sustainability for local organizations.”

The sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States after the start of the special operation also affected alcoholic products. Against this background, Pernod Ricard (Absolut, Jameson, Ararat), Bacardi (Dewar’s, Martini), Diageo (Bailey’s, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Baileys) and others announced the suspension or departure. In the summer of 2022, the Association of Retail Companies ( AKORT) applied to the government with a request to include a number of alcohol brands in the list of permitted parallel imports, since November it has been allowed.