Why Western brands are still found in Russian supermarkets despite sanctions?

here's the deal this is a new chocolate bar that's already been sold in Russia for a few months it has a new shiny wrapper but if you remove it you'll find a good old NASCAR chocolate bar from Nestle a Swiss corporation that just like hundreds of other European and American firms announced it would cut ties with Russia but when Western companies say they're leaving Russia this can mean many things today I'm going to show you a typical Russian supermarkets exactly one year after the much vaunted

Western corporate Exodus while this isn't just an original Coke but it also comes from a native country do you want me to name it my wife and I are going to pick up some of the basic products that we usually buy to show you the current food prices in Russia after more than a year of harsh economic sanctions be sure to watch till the end eggs premium category a little over a dollar well a few things I want to say right off the bat no there are no empty shelves in Russian supermarkets I know some

YouTubers put up thumbnails of empty shelves and it helped draw attention for some reason but food shortages are not a thing in Russia at the moment people used to hoard stable products out of fear of uncertainty in the beginning but this is what a typical grocery store supermarket in Russia looks like right now foreign [Music] unlike food shortages food inflation is Alive and Kicking it was as high as 12 percent in 2022 according to official data some stuff has gotten even more expensive um [Mu

sic] foreign [Music] let us know what product you buy has risen in price the most in your country a quick side note some people say that Supermarket videos are dumb because sanctions weren't meant to hurt Russia's food security I disagree one of Russia's largest banks that subsidizes the country's agriculture has come under sanctions Russian Farmers have been all but stripped off the new Western farm equipment in modern technology I touched upon this in one of my videos about rural Russia and la

st but not least Western companies involved in food production have announced their Exodus from Russia this is not sanctions per se but it's still part of the economic warfare that's been waging against Russia and when there were short-term shortages of some products back in March of 2022 Western median politicians were happy to take credit they seem to be yet another example of how the West sanctions are impacting ordinary Russians so Supermarket videos are legit let's see what's going on in th

e beverage section one thing that's easy to notice Coca-Cola hasn't gone anywhere in fact the Coke I'm holding isn't just the original one uh but it's also come from a native country Poland [Music] the Russian government allowed parallel import of Coca-Cola products after the American corporation announced that it would leave Russia now you can find Coke from Iran turkey the UAE Kazakhstan Armenia and some other countries but the original Coke I see the most in Moscow is from Poland I mean it's

just funny that of all Western Nations it's Poland the fiercest proponent of anti-russian sanctions and one of Ukraine's most loyal allies supplies Coke to Russia [Music] not just Coke by the way polish clothing brands like reserved mojito house and say are still being sold in Russia the stores have changed their names of course Reserve became re house XC and so on but it's polish clothes on the shelves including new collections I show this in detail in one of my videos make sure to watch it too

Poland supplies tanks and fighter jets Ukraine as well as soft drinks and garments to Russia which of course are being sold here at a higher price that's the true Spirit of enterprise wow but has Coca-Cola actually left Russia [Music] there have been dozens of knockoffs that rushed to fill the void left by the American company because now we have russian-made cool Cola jumbo colon fancy instead of fan the street instead of sprite is just it's just nuts and then we have this dobre Cola a new sof

t drink on the market produced by a company you've probably never heard about molten Partners molten Partners is the rebranded Russian branch of Coca-Cola which is still partly owned by Coca-Cola's European bottler Coca-Cola HBS it got a long story short the very same factories that used to make Coke and Russia before the war are making it now under a different name they claim the recipe is different however so if you think about it the only thing that the American Sovereign company took when it

left Russia was their super secret formula and no one knows what that is now there's a hinted debate in Russia about whether this Adobe Cola is original Coke sold under a different name or just another copycat well they taste the same to me hmm I don't know same but what do I know if you've tried these two drinks let me know in the comments what you think now let's see what's going on with dairy products well I have to say Russia's dairy products have always been one of the best in the world su

re there is French swiss cheese at a top-notch and Out Of Reach for many competitors but when it comes to the quality and the variety of domestic milk yogurt butter cottage cheese Russian manufacturers can give anyone a good run for their money and yet there was one Finnish Dairy company that managed to win over the hearts of millions of Russians valio soon after the war in Ukraine started the company sold its production facilities in Russia and seized all operations though the new Russian owner

quickly picked up where the Finns left off and kept production going under a new brand name that looks and sounds almost the same Viola well originally Viola is the name of values cream cheese but the Finnish company sold this brand along with its Russian Factory to local businessmen so now Viola is the new name of all dairy products that value used to make and sell here so which one is it is it good old finish butter and new packaging or is it brand new Russian butter regardless of what you th

ink you can deny that the fence did deliver in their promise and pulled out uh we don't know how much they sold their Russian business for but as is it looks more like finland's loss and Russia's game [Music] but not every Western company followed suit Nestle a multinational food and drink conglomerate from Switzerland never said it would get rid of its Russian assets of course on their website it says that the company stands with the people of Ukraine but will continue delivering essential food

to Russia well I I don't know I have failed to find a single nasty product that has disappeared from Russia as if everything they sell is essential however a lot of names have changed Nesquik cereal now has a crispy Russian name KitKat chocolate bars have become good mix Maxi Bond ice cream is now Maxi Duo move and pick is now called Monterra Nescafe has remained Nescafe the coffee is so popular in Russia it will take years for the old stock to run out well here's what uh a nascript chocolate b

ar looks like in Russia now uh it's sold under a famous uh local chocolate brand that was bought out by Nestle in the 1990s but here in the back it says Nestle Russia [Music] so the famous nasty bunny may have left Russia but his powerful Masters are still making money here you can't really accuse nasty of lying after all they said they'd only keep selling essential products uh in Russia and don't you dare to tell me that this bucket of ice cream for 10 bucks is non-essential I mean how else wou

ld a girl get over a breakup with her boyfriend laughs seriously though I can only imagine what it takes for these companies to withstand the pressure at home without abandoning their loyal customers and employees in Russia who have nothing to do with Russia's war effort anyway well let's take Denon for instance a famous French food corporation this is their yogurt by the way that has been sold in Russia for years under this brand unlike other Western companies Denon hasn't sold this Russian bus

iness instead the company announced it would quote transfer the effective control of its Russian Branch to ensure long-term local business continuity for its employees consumers and partners well I have no clue what this means for me this is just a fancy way of saying Denon isn't going anywhere is it bad though some of you might be shocked but denon's sister company nutrisha has even received funds from the Russian government for supplying baby food to local children's hospitals there is a Ukrai

nian website called leave Russia that basically shames Western companies for maintaining ties with Russia the French Corporation has received an unpleasant orange Mark apparently for not trying to leave hard enough apparently in the world of hand-wringing and virtue signaling given baby formula can send the wrong message right funnily enough the same Ukraine website has grin led the world's largest Spirits maker Diageo a UK company that owns Famous Brands like Johnny Walker Guinness Bayless Capt

ain Morgan after the war in Ukraine started Diageo jumped on the bandwagon and proudly said no more booze for Russians look what we have here a fresh stock of Captain Morgan delivered to Russia on September 2022. well I'm pretty sure this was long after the war in Ukraine started unlike say French Denon or swiss Nestle the British Spirits maker has never had any factories in Russia it made its vodka whiskey and gin somewhere else and then sold it in Russia at a premium well this hasn't really ch

anged as sanctioned western-made alcohol keeps flowing into Russia but the prize for Russian consumers has skyrocketed as we found out in the liquor store next to our home [Music] um Diageo is not delivering anything to Russia itself of course this has stopped but the British company certainly doesn't mind someone else doing the job for them and um you know what I you know what I smell here I smell a lot of hot air diagio and some other Spirits makers have enjoyed the media attention received br

ownie points from Ukrainian activists and also kept their share of the Russian Market without breaking sanctions laws pretty slick huh the EU has banned russia-bound Experts of wine champagne and hold on to her hat beer that costs over 300 Euros for item the 300 Euro threshold for alcohol looks a bit strange doesn't it was that because Ursula of underlying cares about ordinary wine and beer lovers in Russia of course or maybe this had something to do with the spirits makers who didn't want to lo

se a very lucrative market so here we have Heineken from the Netherlands we have uh Estrella from Spain we have this beer from Belgium We have basically we have beer from all over Europe but uh don't you worry my friends I've checked them all not a single beer here costs more than 300 Euros so rest assured sanctions are being respected interestingly enough the you sold them in more wine to Russia in 2022 than the year before and the wine has gotten a lot more expensive videos [Music] we've picke

d out several American and European Brands sold in Russia let me know how much they cost in your country well here we have a whole section of Russian wine and I have to say that Russian winemakers have come a long way over the past decade and there is pretty decent Russian wine that comes from smaller Vineyards uh what I don't get though is why it costs the same or sometimes even more than wine from France or Italy is foreign [Music] okay it's time to check out we bought milk eggs buckwheat grou

nd chicken a pack of cheese dobricola two packs of yogurt butter Tomatoes potatoes cucumbers apples bread ice cream and many and a chocolate bar it all came to around 3 000 rubles or 38 bucks my wife wasn't watching me and I accidentally took the most expensive ice cream and pilmeni that alone cost almost 15 anyway let me know how much you would pay for these shopping bags in your country personally I've nothing against Western companies doing business in Russia uh I mean what's the big deal if

someone buys finish butter or French yogurt it's not like the worst jobs because there is no I don't know Swiss chocolate but the level of hypocrisy is off the charts with all the loud statements on one hand and backdoor dealings on the other you either stayed in Russia or you left you can do both at the same time uh I don't know how sanctions work across the board but sometimes it just feels like mtpr exercise