War in Ukraine: Decathlon accused of continuing supplies to Russia through a “front company”

The group has officially suspended its activities in Russia. However, according to an investigation published on Tuesday by Disclose, French sports and leisure group Decathlon continued to supply clothing to the Russian buyer of its stores, in part through a “front company” in Dubai.

While most Western groups fled the country after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Decathlon, for example, supplied Russian Desport stores with Kalenji sports jackets, Wedze ski jackets, and Quechua trousers and shoes, totaling at least $12 million (about $11 million). Euro).

Shell company involved

The products were flown in November from Bangladesh, where they are manufactured, through Dubai, where the products were purchased by a shell company, according to internal documents and testimony collected by Disclose. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 triggered unprecedented sanctions and an exodus of foreign companies.

The export of weapons, luxury goods or goods that could help strengthen Russia’s industrial potential, in particular, is strictly prohibited by Europe. These measures do not affect sporting goods. The Mulliez group, which owns Decathlon, is one of the rare French groups that has maintained its activities in Russia. In particular, he kept Auchan there, which generates more than 10% of its sales there.

A few weeks after the war began, Decathlon announced that it was suspending commercial operations of its stores and its website in Russia. More than a year later, in the summer of 2023, the distributor finally received permission from local authorities to resell 36 stores of the Russian company ARM. But when they reopened in November, Decathlon products were available in these stores, according to images seen on Russian social media.

According to documents seen by Disclose, the group urgently ordered goods from its Asian suppliers. To avoid the shipments being blocked by customs, a Decathlon subsidiary based in Singapore purchased them and transported them through Dubai.

Decathlon “does not operate stores in the Russian Federation, does not employ employees and does not own shares in companies operating in this territory,” management responded. “Decathlon is also doing everything possible to stop the resale in the Russian Federation of products purchased in Europe by third parties. » The European Union adopted on Monday the twelfth package of sanctions against Russia, which, in particular, includes a ban on the import of Russian diamonds into the EU.