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Silent allies of Russia

In corporate world, quite a few companies seem to play opportunistic cards and refuse to stand on either side of the conflict, effectively supporting the attacker.

Some of them clearly support the on-going war by remaining in business-as-usual mode and denying calls for quit.

It is one thing to expect a corporation to behave ethically. But as consumers we SHOULD vote with our feets and wallets.

Significant companies and products that remain in Russiaโ€‹

  • most Chinese companies
  • a lot of Indian companies
  • quite a few Turkish companies
  • disgusting number of French and Italian companies
  • small yet still shameful number of German companies
  • quite a few companies from the rest of Europe, not less shameful than the ones above
  • one Polish company - Makrochem SA (?!!!)

Some notable brandsโ€‹

Those brands are annoyingly stubborn in their pro-Russian stance.

Other notesโ€‹

Atomic Heartโ€‹

  • video game released in February 2023
  • set in fictional Sovet Union setting, developed by a studio headquertered in Cyprus but operating offices in Russia
  • release date was very dubiously timed with an anniversary of 2022 Russian aggression in Ukraine
  • if the studio has any ties with Russia it can be safely assumed it pays at least some of their taxes in Russia (funding the war) and may collect data for Russian security services
  • Mundfish, the studio behind the game refuses to comment on politics or religion, which makes it a silent ally of the attacker
    • they said they're 'pro-peace organization against violence against people' which is a offensively vague statement that sounds very 'Russian'
  • it is highly inappropriate to give platform to a game that openly explores landscape and culture of an attacking side in the war
    • there's no such thing as consuming culture 'ironically'
    • all choices are political in their nature
    • you paid for the product, thus you approved its existence and supported whoever directly benefits from its relevance
    • if you paid for the product but only now realized you shouldn't have, well, damage was done
      • Think how to do better next time
      • Maybe giving more time to research the product before buying could be the way to go
      • consider donating to relevant charity as a small way of repaying for the damage you've done?
    • intent doesn't matter. Impact does. If you consume the product, talk about the product or watch someone else consuming the product (like content creators streaming it live), you're part of the problem
    • if you use Xbox and subscribe to GamePass, by playing the game you show up in gameplay statistics, effectively legitimizing immorality of the business decision of offering the game at all