Several brands and groups also voluntarily quit the market at the start of the offensive — including Chanel, Hermes, LVMH and Kering — amid a wave of corporate exits from Russia.
But almost three years later, their logos still adorn products on the shelves of Russian stores in Moscow, a bustling megalopolis of some 13 million inhabitants that was a profitable market for them before the conflict.
Sanctioned goods of all kinds are easily exported to Russia through willing middlemen in places like the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Even if they aren’t selling directly to Russian shoppers anymore, many of the Western luxury brands have kept hold of their premises in central Moscow, apparently in the hope of reopening sometime in the future.
“Their announced departure is pure hypocrisy,” said one French businessman selling luxury goods in the Russian capital.
“Even though their stores are officially closed, these brands continue to sell their products to Russians via ‘marketplaces’ and dealers,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Export statistics show a huge jump in trade between Western countries and the likes of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan — ex-Soviet countries that have close ties with Moscow — after sanctions were introduced.
“One way or another, everything is imported,” said Elena, a 38-year-old marketing manager for a luxury lingerie designer, shopping in central Moscow.
“It’s a little more complicated, but overall everybody manages,” to get the products they want, she told AFP in the TSUM department store, home of luxury goods and brands.
A sale assistant there told AFP: “The luxury brands are still here. And so are our regular customers, demand has not dropped.”
Return ‘matter of time’
On its official website and app, TSUM advertises selling products from Prada, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, all brands that have officially left Russia.
