Don't buy Russian goods!

“Don't buy Russian goods!” ( Ukrainian Не купуй російське! ) Or “Boycott Russian goods!” (Ukrainian Бойкотуй російське! ) Is a non-violent campaign to boycott Russian trade in Ukraine . The protest began on August 14, 2013 in response to the Russian Federation's trade embargo against Ukraine. It was organized by the citizens' initiative Widsitsch ( Ukr. Відсіч = "resistance") via social media on the Internet . The campaign was expanded to include the mass distribution of flyers, posters and stickers in 45 cities, large and small. With the beginning of the Euromaidan it had subsided somewhat, but was started again on March 2, 2014 (parallel to the Crimean crisis and the Russian military intervention in Ukraine).

Activists launched a boycott on August 22, 2013 in response to the blockade of Ukrainian goods in Russia

causes

According to the activists, the campaign began in response to a series of minor economic wars by Russia against Ukraine, "Meat War", "Cheese War", and the "Chocolate War". On August 14, 2013, the Federal Consumer Service of Russia listed all Ukrainian exporters as “risky companies” on a list that ultimately led to a blockade of Ukrainian products being imported into Russia. Hundreds of truckloads of goods were rejected at the border.

Boycotts

Flash mob in a Kiev supermarket, March 15, 2014

Activists present a banner calling for a boycott of Russian gasoline, May 29, 2014

Boycott sticker for "ПТН X̆ЛО" (abbreviation " Putin chuilo ") in Brovary . June 22, 2014 in Ukraine

In Ukraine

On August 22, 2013, activists held a protest rally near the Presidential Office of Ukraine . The campaign continued with the mass distribution of flyers, posters and stickers in more than 25 major and minor Ukrainian cities. Caricatures of Russian matryoshka dolls were used in the campaign. With the start of the Euromaidan , the intensity of the campaign decreased.

On March 2, 2014, the campaign was restarted with the help of social networks . All goods and services that Russian companies could benefit from were affected. The aim of the campaign was to inhibit the flow of money to Russia so that the Russian military would not be supported there. In terms of time and content, the boycott was directly related to the Crimean crisis and the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

In March 2014, activists started flash mobs in supermarkets to persuade customers not to buy Russian products and to avoid Russian gas stations , banks, and concerts. Some cinemas in Kiev , Lviv and Odessa began to remove Russian films from their programs.

In the summer of 2014, the activists organized flash mobs and actions in Russian restaurants and cafes.

At the end of August 2014, activists started the “Boycott Russian Films” campaign, which was directed against Russian films and TV series in the Ukrainian media.

In April 2014 some Russian manufacturers changed their barcodes from “Russia” to “Ukraine”. The term "boycott intruder" was a Android - app developed with which it was possible to identify Russian products, including those whose origin had been hidden or blurred.

International distribution

As of March 2014, the boycott expanded to other countries, in particular Belarus , Latvia and Lithuania , Estonia , Poland , Moldova , Georgia , the USA and the Czech Republic .

Results

In spring 2014, sales of Russian products in Ukraine fell by 35–50%. In May 2014, Ukrainian supermarkets stopped ordering Russian goods. From this point on, the delivery of Russian goods decreased by 1/3.

In April 2014, it was reported that Russian producers were converting Russian barcodes to those of other countries. In addition, it became known that Russian products had been illegally redesignated in Ukrainian supermarkets.

According to the rating agency Standard & Poor’s, banks with Russian capital in Ukraine lost 50% of their deposits between January and May 2014 .

A rating comparison test of Russian television series in Ukraine for 2013 (test by GfK ) and for 2014 (test by Nielsen ) came to a result of around 30% loss of viewers.

Public opinion

According to “ Taylor Nelson Sofres ” (TNS) (Internet Research in Ukraine), 52% of Ukrainians were “positive” or “fairly positive” about the boycott of Russian products in March / April 2014. According to a survey, 39% of the population participated in the boycott. Further surveys found that support for the boycott increased from 52% to 57% between July and August 2014. The percentage of people who participated increased from 40% to 46%. Data released by the TSN agency indicated that in September 2014, 50% of Ukrainians participated in the boycott of Russian goods.

criticism

Economist Andriy Novak calculated that the boycott of Russian products in March 2014 did not cost the Russian Federation economy much more than a few tens of millions of dollars. In his opinion, the Russian economy could have been hit in a much more painful place, namely at Gazprom .

The boycott idea was supported by the Fozzy Group , a Ukrainian association of intermediate suppliers. However, no support came from “ Auchan Ukraine” and the “ Metro Cash & Carry ” group. The reason for this is their apolitical company concept.

Andriy Dlihach, CEO of the “Advanter Group”, advocated not boycotting Russian products, but instead buying Ukrainian products.

Ukrainian, Russian-speaking blogger Danilo Vachowski said he deliberately used Russian internet services because he believed it would be a way of creating favorable conditions for entrepreneurship in Russia. Even if it is not patriotic, it supports entrepreneurs “with rubles”, which creates the opportunity to initiate new projects and developments that help to make the world a better place. He also presented some of these developments such as B. QIWI, Ostrovok.ru and Kaspersky Anti-Virus .