Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has apparently made a decision to ban its customary Nesquik chocolate beverage from its onboard menus, after Ukrainian authorities designated its maker, Nestle, as a ‘war sponsor’ last month.
Ever since Russia launched it’s war of aggression against Ukraine last year, Kiev has consistently insisted on the complete closure of Western companies’ operations in Russia. Those who have declined this demand and continued to do business with Putin’s regime have been labeled as international sponsors of war by Ukraine’s National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NACP).
The NACP list lacks legal authority and mainly functions as a means of publicly naming and shaming companies that decline to cut ties with Russia, with the aim of exposing their continued profiteering with pariah state and the criminal regime of its dictator Putin.
In a statement issued to the local media, SAS has stated that it is adhering to Kiev’s list of Russia’s western war accomplices. As a result, Nesquik drinking chocolate has been taken off its on-board offerings. Additionally, the airline is currently engaged in discussions with a few suppliers to gain insight into their future strategies.
Scandinavian Airlines had previously embargoed items from Mondelez and Pepsi as well, both of which have been blacklisted by Ukraine.
Amidst the mass departure of Western companies from Russia in 2022, after the start of Moscow’s unprovoked brutal full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, Nestle CEO Mark Schneider claimed that ‘ensuring people’s access to products’ and not the handsome profits reaped by Nestle in Russia, was a ‘fundamental human entitlement and a core principle for the company’. Chief executive of the world’s largest food-and-beverage company declared that this was the sole reason why Nestle opted not to completely withdraw its activities from the country and keep its workforce of over 7,000 employees in Russia.
Ukrainian authorities publicly denounced Nestle’s decision to remain in Russia last year, asserting that Schneider demonstrated a lack of comprehension regarding the adverse consequences associated with contributing taxes to Russia’s budget.
Ukraine has designated 45 companies from 17 different countries, including the United States, China, Germany, and France, as war sponsors. Major global companies such as Leroy Merlen, Metro, PepsiCo, Unilever, Bonduelle, Bacardi, Procter & Gamble, Mars, Xiaomi, Yves Rocher, Alibaba, and Geely are on that list.
SOURCE: SAS Bans Nesquik Over Nesltle’s Support for Russia’s War in Ukraine
