The important French group Bonduelle, which has maintained its activities in Russia, has been accused of supporting the invasion of Ukraine following posts on Russian social networks.
French multinational Bonduelle, specializing in the marketing of vegetables, has been accused of supporting the Russian conflict in Ukraine after information appeared on Russian social networks on December 30.
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A post from “Ярцево LIVE” on VKontakte (Russia’s Facebook), which has since been deleted, shows a photo of a basket full of Bonduelle cans with a description implying that the French group is actively supporting the Russian side.
According to the same post, 10,000 of these baskets were delivered, along with a leaflet that read “We wish you all the best and a quick victory!”.
Misleading information?
“Ярцево LIVE” also commemorates Ekaterina Eliseeva, member of the group’s board and managing director of Bonduelle EurAsia Markets, who wished the Russian armed forces a “quick victory”. The same Ekaterina Eliseeva went through the academy of the FSB, the secret service that succeeded the Soviet KGB to become a translator. However, it is not necessarily linked to the FSB yet.
The information was immediately picked up by personalities and media such as Obozrevatel in Ukraine. It is passed on in France by the independent journalist Stéphane Kenech, who points out the resemblance of a man’s clothing to the Russian uniform in the photograph of the basket filled with Bonduelle preserves.
Did Bonduelle deliver packages to Russian soldiers?
Pictures are circulating on social media. “Dear soldier, Happy New Year! We wish you all the best and a quick victory! stands on a basket held by a person wearing a blue and white t-shirt. pic.twitter.com/7Ka0h1iNc1
– Stephane Kenech (@stephanekenech) December 31, 2022
A press release issued by the group on December 31 denies “misleading information” and statements made to members of the company. However, Bonduelle points out that the company is still present in Russia “with the sole aim of ensuring the population’s access to essential food”.
Bonduelle is still working in Russia
In fact, the company is maintaining its operations in the country, as it has announced since the beginning of the conflict, pointing to seasonal activities whose cessation “would have serious consequences both in the short and long term”.
The group also sees its “responsibility to ensure people’s access to essential food and to do everything possible not to contribute to food shortages”.
However, Bonduelle claimed to devote all profits from its sales in Russia during the conflict period “to the future rebuilding of infrastructure and agri-food ecosystems damaged by the conflict in Ukraine”.
A “charity basket” operation
According to him, the group makes food donations in cooperation with NGOs. Bonduelle has rightly indicated on its Russian Telegram account that it participates in Operation Baskets of Benevolence, an initiative by the Russian Food Bank to deliver baskets of food to the poorest.
However, as Stéphane Kenech points out, the head of Russia’s Podolsk district, Dmitry Zharikov, speaks in his Telegram account of the “Baskets of Benevolence” initiative as an initiative aimed at “collecting gifts for the military and their families”.
It is therefore possible that some of these baskets ended up in the hands of families of soldiers who are currently on the front lines. All the more so since, as the Journal du Dimanche pointed out at the start of the conflict, ethnic minorities and the poorest are over-represented among Russian soldiers, potentially placing them in this category of the most disadvantaged.