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UKRAINE

French firms under fire for continuing commercial operations in Russia

French firms Auchan, Leroy Merlin and Decathlon have been criticised by Ukrainian officials for continuing to maintain operations in Russia.

The logo of French retailer Auchan is pictured on a shopping centre in Moscow.
The logo of French retailer Auchan is pictured on a shopping centre in Moscow. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister called on Sunday for people to boycott the supermarket. (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP)

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Sunday for a global boycott of French retail giant Auchan, with pressure mounting on international brands to quit Russia over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Apparently, job losses in Russia are more important than the loss of life in Ukraine. If Auchan ignores 139 Ukrainian children murdered during this month of Russian invasion, let us ignore Auchan and all their products,” he wrote on Twitter.

Kuleba called for a “boycott” of the retail group as well as French DIY retailer Leroy Merlin and sporting chain Decathlon, all of which operate under the Association Familiale Mulliez.

Auchan CEO Yves Claude this week defended the company’s decision to remain in Russia citing the need to keep staff employed.

“Leaving would be imaginable from an economic point of view, but not from a human point of view,” he told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

According to its company website, Auchan has 41,000 employees and operates more than 300 stores in Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used an address to France’s parliament last Wednesday to call on French companies still working in Russia to “stop sponsoring” aggression against his country.

He named in particular Auchan, Leroy Merlin and Renault. The car giant subsequently announced an immediate suspension of operations at its Moscow factory.

Member comments

  1. Life goes on and business is business. Just because someone thinks it’s more important to appear on video screens around the world, then throws his toys out of the pram because he cannot get what he wants, then sitting down and finding an end to this conflict. Certainly does not make him a good leader, but someone with a very large ego that is putting himself before his people.

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UKRAINE

France charges two Moldovans over coffin graffiti in Paris

French prosecutors on Saturday charged two Moldovans suspected of painting coffins and a slogan urging an end to Ukraine war on the facade of a prominent Paris newspaper, a judicial source said.

France charges two Moldovans over coffin graffiti in Paris

It was just the latest in a series of such acts in the capital in recent weeks. French officials have repeatedly warned of the risks of disinformation and other attacks by Russia over France’s support for Kyiv.

Tension between Paris and Moscow has increased since President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this year he had not ruled out sending troops to Ukraine.

The two men, who carried Moldovan passports, were arrested overnight Thursday-Friday after six red coffins and the phrase “Stop the Death, Mriya, Ukraine” were painted on the building of right-wing daily Le Figaro. Mriya means “dream” in Ukrainian.

They are being held on charges of destruction of property and participating in “an effort to demoralise the army to harm national defence in peacetime”, the source said.

Six similar coffins were found early Thursday on the facade of the Agence France-Presse headquarters in central Paris, not far from the Figaro offices.

A source close to the case said the two Moldovans claimed to have been paid around €100 to paint the graffiti.

A separate investigations has been opened after graffiti showing French Mirage fighter jets in the form of coffins were found last Tuesday in three districts of Paris. They included the phrase “Mirages for Ukraine”.

Similar graffiti was discovered on the walls of the AFP building Monday.

Macron announced in early June that France would send Mirage-2000 fighter jets to Ukraine and train their Ukrainian pilots as part of a new military cooperation with Kyiv.

On June 8, French police said they were holding three young Moldovans suspected of being behind inscriptions of coffins in Paris with the slogan “French soldiers in Ukraine”.

They were later charged with property damage and released.

Moldova’s Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi posted on X, formerly Twitter: “We regret and firmly condemn the incident”.

He said the “vandalism” was “part of hybrid tactics to harm our international image”.

Popsoi reiterated his comment on Saturday, denouncing an “instigation to hate”.

“We call on Moldovan citizens to be vigilant and not to allow themselves to be manipulated to the detriment of our country.”

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