Renown chocolate maker Lindt has announced that it, too, is joining the economic boycott of Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, according to The Grocer.
The Swiss chocolate maker said Wednesday that it will stop supplying chocolates to Russia, joining hundreds of other companies in suspending its business.
Lindt said in a statement Wednesday that it had “re-evaluated our business activities in Russia and decided to temporarily close our shops with immediate effects and suspend all of our deliveries to Russia.
“Our local employees will continue to receive our support and we will remain in close contact with them,” the company pledged.
In 2020, Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) accused Lindt of supplying worse chocolate products to the Russian Federation than was available in other countries, saying the brand’s advertising “creates the impression that [Russian] consumers are offered the same product that is produced and sold under the same brand in western Europe.
FAS deputy head added, “When manufacturers offer adapted products to Russian consumers . . . and do not inform them about it, the Agency sees such actions as a violation of antitrust legislation,” according to The Moscow Times.
Lindt rejected the allegations at the time, saying its factories did not have “special production facilities or separate production lines for products sold to Russia or any other region.
“A single batch of Lindt chocolate can be sold in Russia and in Switzerland, Germany, France, or in many other countries. The labelling may differ. The chocolate will be the same,” the company responded.
As of Thursday, more than 300 countries had withdrawn from Russia.
The list includes – among others — the global accounting firms of KPMG and Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP, as well as Deloitte, Ernst and Young, Fitch Group, Moody’s Corp., BP Oil and Gas, Shell Oil and Gas, Exxon Mobil Corp., Equinor ASA, PayPal, VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Facebook (Meta), TikTok, Spotify, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Apple, Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures Entertainment, Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures, Samsung, Nokia, General Motors Co., Ford, Volkswagen AG, Toyota Motor Corp., Volvo AB, Daimler Truck Holding AG, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Starbucks, PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz Co., Kellogg Co., Papa John’s International Inc., Philip Morris International Inc., Imperial Brands Plc (Kool and Galouises cigarettes), Heinekin, Brown-Forman Corp. (Jack Daniel’s whiskey, Woodford Reserve bourbon), Airbnb, IKEA, L’Oreal, PG Tips, Estee Lauder, Levi Strauss & Co., Mothercare Plc, H&M, Mango, NIKE, John Lewis & Partners, Sports Direct, Electronic Arts, and more.
Many of the above firms have also said they will suspend operations in neighboring Belarus as well, which has joined Russia in its war on Ukraine.
