Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered an avalanche of sanctions on Moscow by Western nations, but some European companies seemingly still do business there.
ADVERTISEMENTFrench sports and leisure goods group Decathlon has continued to deliver clothing to its Russian buyer, notably via a "shell company" in Dubai, according to an investigation published on Tuesday by the investigative outlet Disclose.
While most Western companies left Russia after the start of its full-scale war in Ukraine, Decathlon delivered Kalenji jogging jackets, Wedze ski jackets and Quechua trousers and shoes to Russian Desport shops, for a total of at least €11 million.
These products were flown in November from Bangladesh, where they are produced, via Dubai, where a front company bought the products, according to internal documents and testimonies gathered by Disclose.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 triggered swathes of sanctions and an exodus of foreign companies.
In particular, the export of arms, luxury goods and products that could help strengthen Russia's industrial capacity has been firmly banned by Europe. Sports goods are not affected by these measures.
The Mulliez group, which owns Decathlon, is one of the few French businesses to have maintained its activities in Russia. In particular, it has kept Auchan, which generates more than 10% of its sales there.
A few weeks after the start of the war, Decathlon announced that it was suspending the commercial activities of its shops and website in Russia.
More than a year later, in the summer of 2023, the retailer finally received the go-ahead from the local authorities to sell 36 shops to a Russian company, ARM.
But Decathlon products were available in these shops when they reopened in November, according to images consulted on Russian social networks.
Disclose says it has seen documents that show the group urgently ordered goods from its Asian suppliers. To avoid the shipments being held up at customs, a Decathlon subsidiary based in Singapore bought them and sent them via Dubai.
Decathlon management, which declined to comment on Monday evening, told Disclose that it was "doing everything possible to stop (its) products from being resold in the Russian Federation".
On Monday, the European Union adopted a twelfth package of sanctions against Russia, including a ban on imports of Russian diamonds into the EU.
