Luxury good company LVMH says it is “impossible” to control the final destination of its products sold by third-party distributors after a report said its champagne reached Russia.
French investigative media La Lettre reported today that the group’s beverages branch Moet Hennessy worked with two third-party, duty-free distributors in the US on shipments ultimately headed for the Russian market.
LVMH, which also owns Christian Dior, Givenchy and Bulgari among other brands, said in March 2022 it would close its boutiques in Russia and halt business operations there after the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Many Western goods are still shipped to Russia through intermediaries, also known as parallel imports, which are mostly legal, though many companies say they are against such practices.
“Some of [Moet Hennessy’s] distributors have export activities. It is therefore impossible for Moet Hennessy to control the final destination of a product marketed by a distributor,” an LVMH spokesperson said.
“Moet Hennessy and its partners scrupulously comply with the laws, rules and international sanctions in force on products marketed wherever they operate.”
We’re pausing our live coverage
That’s all for now – but we’ll be back soon with the latest from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Until then, here’s a brief recap of the main developments we reported today:
- Ukraine’s military said its overnight attacks were the largest it has carried out on Russian military facilities;
- Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 58 of 80 drones launched by Moscow;
- Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov gave his annual news conference, boasting of Moscow’s allies and the West’s “downfall”;
- He also turned attention to Donald Trump, telling reporters the Kremlin will keep a “close eye” on how he approaches sanctions;
- Mr Lavrov also said Moscow will study any peace plan for Ukraine put forward by Washington;
- But an advisor to Vladimir Putin said the UK, other European powers and even Ukraine itself should not be involved in peace negotiations – just Russia and the US.
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