Is Philip Morris’s headquarters responsible for the fact that the Russian Philip Morris pays taxes there and paints Crimea as Russian? Definitely yes. Dmytro Kupyra, executive director of the Life NGO, said this in an interview with investigative journalist Yevhen Plinsky.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, many international companies have left the Russian market, unwilling to support the aggressor and finance the killing of Ukrainians. Many, but not all. Despite the announcement of their withdrawal from the market, such tobacco giants as Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco International remain in the market of the terrorist country and pay taxes to its budget.
Back in August 2023, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) added two of the world’s leading tobacco companies, Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco International, to the list of international sponsors of war. These companies continue to do business in Russia and support the economy of the aggressor country by paying significant taxes to its budget.
In the first six months of the war alone, until the fall of 2022, tobacco companies paid more than $7 billion to the budget of the Russian Federation. Based on the fact that the budget of the Russian army is 65-66 billion. The money of tobacco companies such as Philip Morris International, JTI and others accounted for more than 10% of the defense budget of the aggressor country, said investigative journalist Yevhen Plinsky.
“Is the Ukrainian Philip Morris responsible for the fact that the Russian Philip Morris pays taxes there and paints Crimea as Russian? Absolutely! Because it is a single structure and they are directly subordinated to the central office. For some reason, some companies were able to exit the Russian market, for example, Imperial Brands closed its legal entity in Russia. They were able to do it, and it wasn’t the local management that made the decision, because they got a call from the central office and said, guys, you’re out of business, you’re not working anymore, we’ll supply cigarettes or give you a production permit, but our legal entity is gone. It is clear that the central office is making money on blood,” said Dmytro Kupyra.
Billions of dollars paid by tobacco companies to the Russian budget are used to manufacture missiles, ammunition, equipment, and kamikaze drones that attack Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine.