On March 4, 2022, French luxury group LVMH announced it would “temporarily” close its 124 stores in Russia.
Despite this official communication, Hennessy cognac, Veuve Clicquot champagne, and Dom Perignon reportedly never really left Russian shelves.
The French investigative outlet La Lettre reported that the group’s beverage branch, Moet Hennessy, worked with two third-party duty-free distributors in the United States to facilitate shipments ultimately destined for the Russian market.
Although LVMH defended its position, saying it was “impossible” to control the final destination of products sold by third-party distributors, documents consulted by La Lettre indicate that the two top managers of Moet Hennessy, Jean-Marc Lacave and Philippe Schaus, were aware that the bottles were destined for Russia.
Of the company’s 511 million euros in duty-free revenue in 2023, approximately 13 million euros came from Russian sales, according to the article. The Kyiv School of Economics estimates that LVMH’s gross revenue in Russia in 2023 amounted to $110 million, with the company paying $7 million in profit tax to the Russian government.
LVMH also owns Christian Dior, Givenchy and Bulgari among other brands.
The presence of well-known brands in Russia normalises and indirectly supports the war. It signals to Russian consumers, investors, and the world that major companies are unfazed by the country’s aggression and militarised budget.
We urge LVMH leadership to fully withdraw its brands from Russia to avoid any association with Russia’s crimes in Ukraine.