“Last year, I urged the world to boycott “Auchan” because it had not left Russia and stopped financing war crimes. However, the reality seems much worse – “Auchan” has developed into a full-fledged weapon of Russian aggression,” the minister admitted on Twitter.
The Russian branch of “Auchan” has supplied the Russian army with products worth two million rubles (26,000 euros), according to a study conducted by the French newspaper “Le Monde” and the investigative journalism projects “The Insider” and “Bellingcat”.
The products were delivered for free, media sources testified.
Auchan said it was “deeply surprised” by the findings of the study, noting that the only elements it provided to the investigation were in March 2022, a few weeks after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.
“We do not voluntarily or actively participate in fundraising for the Russian military,” the company said.
The Ukrainian branch of “Auchan” confirmed in a statement on the social network “Facebook” that it was “shocked” by the results of the study.
“Auchan Ukrainian company has provided support to Ukrainians worth more than 60 million hryvnias (1.5 million euros) since the beginning of the war,” the company said in a statement.
“Auchan” has been operating in Ukraine and Russia for many years. The volume of trade of the Russian company “Auchan” until the beginning of the war was one tenth of the global volume.
