National Agency on Corruption Prevention includes AliExpress owner on list of international sponsors of war: not only for trade with Russia
The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has included the Chinese group of companies Alibaba Group Holding Limited on the list of international sponsors of the war.
Source: NACP website
Details: It is emphasised that Alibaba Group not only continues to operate in the Russian Federation but also provides its platforms for the sale of goods made from copper exported from the occupied territories of Ukraine. In addition, Alibaba resorts to censoring Ukrainian content on its platforms.
Thus, the online commerce platform AliExpress, which is managed by the Russian subsidiary of the Alibaba Group Alibaba.KOM (RU) LLC, has become widespread in the territory of Russia.
The owner of Alibaba.KOM (RU) LLC is Aliexpress Russia Holding Private Ltd., registered in Singapore. As of 2023, the company continues to conduct business in Russia, providing an international platform for sales of foreign goods. The profit of Alibaba.KOM (RU) LLC for 2022 amounted to 16.3 billion roubles (approximately US$160 million - ed.).
In addition, in April 2023, it became known that goods made from copper exported from the occupied territories of Ukraine are being sold on Alibaba platforms.
This fact was revealed by the Reuters agency. It turned out that Alibaba sells the goods of the Chinese company Quzhou Nova. In the period from 8 October 2022 to 24 March 2023, the latter purchased at least 3,220 tonnes of copper alloy for a total of US$7.4 million from the Russian-controlled Debaltseve Metallurgical Engineering Plant. According to customs, shipments of copper alloy from the plant were carried out through the port of Novorossiysk.
NACP also emphasises that Alibaba is resorting to censoring Ukrainian content on its platforms related to the Russian war.
So, in March 2022, Alibaba blocked the profile of a Ukrainian streamer with more than 268,000 followers on AliExpress for a post about war. At the same time, pro-Russian posts on the platform are not deleted.
"All the given facts may indicate that the company supports Russian aggression not only financially, by paying taxes, but also ideologically," the NACP emphasised.
Background:
The list of International War Sponsors on the War and Sanctions portal is a powerful reputational tool for achieving the integrity of supply chains in the international dimension and the withdrawal of international business from Russia, thus reducing the financial and technological ability of the terrorist country to kill Ukrainians.
One of the leverages of the platform is cooperation with the World-Check database, which is used by banks and insurance companies to assess risks. That is why, for global companies, the consequences of being on the list are worse than continuing to do business with the aggressor country.
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