Stand behind Ukrainian independent journalism when it’s needed most. Help us reach 20,000 members.

Skip to content
Edit post

Ukraine designates AliExpress owner as 'international sponsor of war'

by Elsa Court and Kyiv Independent August 17, 2023 11:01 PM 2 min read
An AliExpress logo sits above the entrance to a retail store operated by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., in a shopping mall in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (Photo: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance

Ukraine's National Corruption Prevention Agency added Chinese Alibaba Group Holding Limited, the owner of the online shopping portal AliExpress, to its list of international sponsors of war on Aug. 17.

One of the reasons the agency included the Alibaba Group in the list is for supporting Russia financially by paying taxes in the country.

Though the Russian subsidiary of AliExpress is registered in Singapore, "the company continues to conduct business in Russia, providing an international platform for sales of foreign goods," the agency said.

It also said that the Russian subsidiary recorded a profit in 2022 amounting to $160 million.

Another issue is that Alibaba's platforms allegedly facilitate the sale of copper allegedly exported from the occupied territories of Ukraine.

Reuters reported in April 2023 that Chinese company Quzhou Nova bought $7.4 million worth of copper from the Debaltseve Metallurgical Engineering Plant in the Russian-occupied part of Luhansk Oblast.

The company then sells goods made from this copper on Alibaba platforms. The copper was shipped via the Russian port of Novorossiysk, the agency said.

Join our community
Support independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight.
Support us

It also noted that Alibaba censored Ukrainian content on its platforms that relate to the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine. For example, in March 2022, the company blocked the profile of a Ukrainian streamer with 268,000 followers for posting about the Russian invasion.

Since the company does not delete posts about the war published by Russian content creators, the company supports Russia not only financially, "but also ideologically," the Ukrainian agency concluded.

The move follows the inclusion of Bacardi Limited, the world's largest private alcohol company, to the list on Aug. 10.

The agency added the Bermudian company for continuing to do business in Russia during its war against Ukraine.

According to the agency, the list is "a powerful reputational tool" aimed at encouraging the exit of international business from Russia, reducing the country's "financial and technological ability to kill Ukrainians."

Ukraine designates Bacardi as ‘international sponsor of war’
Ukraine’s National Corruption Prevention Agency (NACP) added the world’s largest private alcohol company Bacardi Limited to the “international sponsors of war” list on Aug. 10. The Bermudian company continues to do business in Russia during its all-out war against Ukraine.

Independent journalism needs a community —
not a paywall.

We’re working hard to show the world the truth of Russia’s brutal war — and we’re keeping it free for everyone, because reliable information should be available to all.

Our goal: reach 20,000 members to prove independent journalism can survive without paywalls, billionaires, or compromise. Will you help us do it?

Can we reach 20,000 members?

News Feed

5:27 PM

Inside Ukraine’s 1,000 for 1,000 POW swap with Russia.

On May 23, Ukraine and Russia began the largest prisoner exchange since 2014. Over three days, 1,000 prisoners of war (POWs) from both sides will return home in a deal agreed upon during direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul earlier this month — the first such talks between Moscow and Kyiv since 2022. The Kyiv Independent went to the site of exchange.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.