I amUkraine has blacklisted US multinational Mondelez, specifically its brands Côte d’Or, Lu and Oreo, as “international sponsors of war”, the Ukrainian National Agency for the Fight against Corruption announced on Saturday.
Ukrainian authorities have long listed companies and their leaders as supporting the Russian invasion, particularly by ensuring the country’s development, which they see as a way to finance terrorism.
Mondelez is the 27th company on the list. Belgian Dirk van de Putt, the group’s CEO, has also been personally targeted.
The leader explained to Tijd last week that the decision to remain active in Russia was “the most difficult” of his career. “The financial losses would have been huge,” he said. Beyond the financial aspect, it would have been “a human drama”. “90% of what we sell in Russia is produced there. We employ 3,000 people in the country and source raw materials from 10,000 farmers.
The Ukrainian blacklist sparked controversy earlier in the week because it included Hungarian bank OTP and, in reaction, Budapest was the only one of the EU’s 27 member states to deny new aid from the European facility. Ukraine has effectively blocked the return of EU-supplied weapons to Ukraine. According to the head of European diplomacy, Joseph Borrell, the member states concerned have already footed the bill for 10 billion euros since the start of the Russian invasion.
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