Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has fired more than 8,000 missiles at Ukraine, according to former Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat. Almost 5,000 of them can be produced for the money Philip Morris International earned for Russia in 2022, according to the Kyiv School of Economics. Namely, 4,900 Kalibr missiles, 78 fifth-generation Su-57 fighters, or 1,089 T-90 tanks.
In an interview with investigative journalist Yevhen Plinsky, the executive director of the Anti-Corruption Headquarters NGO, Serhiy Myktalyk, said that the money paid to the budget of the aggressor country is used to manufacture weapons.
“These are millions of bullets, these are thousands of tanks sent to kill Ukrainians,” noted Myktalyk.
The tobacco giant Philip Morris International provides a significant share of the terrorist country’s military budget. These Big Four tobacco corporations are the largest international taxpayers to the Russian budget.
Yevhen Plinsky, in turn, noted that the approximate budget of the Russian army is 65-66 billion dollars, i.e. more than 10% of Putin’s defense budget is made up of money from tobacco companies such as Philip Morris International, JTI, etc.
“Vogue Ukraine has calculated that the taxes paid by tobacco giant Philip Morris to the budget of the aggressor country in 2020 – $2.98 billion – could have bought 745 tanks or 458 Kalibr missiles. JTI paid $3.6 billion in 2020, and this money could have been used to buy 327 SU-25 aircraft or manufacture 288 Smerch-M missile systems,” added Yevhen Plinsky.
As a reminder, 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 terrorist country and pay taxes to its budget.
And in May, Philip Morris International, a sponsor of Putin’s army, opens its new tobacco factory in Lviv. With the money from Philip Morris International, Putin can produce up to 500 calibers a year. And then this same Russian missile, made with Philip Morris International’s tax dollars, will fly to Lviv and kill people again…