The Bonduelle case is not closed. The French group has been implicated and placed by Ukraine’s national anti-corruption agency on a list of “war financiers”, which brings together 12 companies that it calls for boycotts.
The company is accused of sending 10,000 Christmas food packages to Russian soldiers along with a greeting card that read: “Dear soldier, Happy New Year! We wish you all the best and a quick victory.” The Ukrainian agency also claims that Ekaterina Eliseeva, director of Bonduelle’s representative office in Russia, “studied at the FSB (Russian spy services) Academy to become a translator.” She also points to the continuation of her activities in Russia.
Contacted by BFM Business, the group said it had “no further comment to make.”
Bonduelle’s explanations
In fact, Bonduelle has already denied having sent these packages to Russian soldiers: “this information, as well as the statements attributed to the Bonduelle company and its address, are totally false.”
The group confirms that it sent food packages, but they were destined for “food banks, in Russia and around the world internationally” in the “baskets of kindness” program. Reference to this project is made on the United Nations website. It was launched by “X5 Retail Group and Foodbank in 2015” with the aim of “supporting people in need”.
Regarding the training of Ekaterina Eliseeva in the FSB, Bonduelle acknowledges the facts, but specifies that it was “to follow a training course as a translator”, a job she did before resuming her logistics studies and working in private companies such as Unilever or Danone, in relation the article published in 2019 in the Russian edition of Forbes.
There remains the continuation of Bonduelle’s activities in Russia which, with Leroy Merlin (also quoted by Ukraine’s national anti-corruption agency) is one of the French companies accused “of paying taxes, duties and other contributions to the Russian budget, thus financing the war. “.
The company has three factories in Russia and employs about 1,000 people, but explains this choice by its “food mission”, explained its spokesman. The latter told us to supply food “for the 146 million Russian consumers but also for the 90 million consumers in neighboring countries, such as Georgia, Azerbaijan or Belarus”.
Source: BFM TV
