Russian vodka boycott goes global to punish Putin for war

There are about 6 400 bottles of vodka made by Russian Standard currently for sale in Ohio’s 487 liquor agencies across the state, DeWine said.

The steps may be largely symbolic. Vodka from Russia accounts for little more than 1% of the total value of imports of the spirit into the US, according to data from the country’s Distilled Spirits Council. 

In Russia’s Nordic neighbour Finland, the government’s liquor monopoly Alko Oy stopped selling 20 sorts of vodka, including a 431-euro (~R7 400) bottle, while a lobby group for the hospitality industry told bars and restaurants they should consider following suit. 

Finland’s both main grocery chains, S Group and Kesko Oyj, pulled all Russian products, as did their main Baltic counterparts, Rimi and Maxima.

Denmark’s largest retailer Salling Group also removed all Russian goods “from vodka, toothpaste to chocolate,” CEO Per Bank tweeted, while Sweden’s biggest grocery chain, ICA Gruppen, has also done so, according to Sveriges Radio.

Several international supermarket chains operating in Poland, including Carrefour and Aldi, joined a boycott of Russian products. The country’s biggest retailer Biedronka, owned by Portugues Jeronimo Martins, withdrew 16 products, including Russian vodka and pine nuts made in Russia.

The scale of the boycott was reduced due to a deal that a Polish private food and beverages group Maspex SA completed on February 25, a day after Russian invasion began. The company paid $1 billion to buy CEDC, country’s biggest vodka distributor and the maker of Zubrowka brand, with about 47% share in the Polish market, from Russian Roust Corp.

"Our boycott won’t cause big damages for the Putin’s businessmen but it’s a matter of principle - our people don’t fund those, who finance the war," Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said.

- With assistance from Kati Pohjanpalo, Milda Seputyte, Konrad Krasuski and Niclas Rolander.