Russia and Ukraine have been waging a war for more than a year that has had economic, political and, above all, human consequences.
Now it seems that this war is also affecting companies and multinational corporations that, with their neutral position, cannot stay out of the conflict. The most recent victim is Xiaomi, which has been accused of sponsoring an international war by Ukraine.
Ukrainian government agency makes serious accusation against Xiaomi
The war between Ukraine and Russia has marked the international scene at a political and economic level. With more than a year of conflict, the economic recession is increasingly severe and the humanitarian catastrophe of enormous proportions.
But several multinational companies and organizations are also affected, despite the fact that they maintain a neutral position in the face of this armed conflict. And Xiaomi has just been involved in this same conflict.
Through the social network Twitter, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption of Ukraine (NAZK) has just announced that the Chinese brand has been added to the blacklist of “sponsors of international warfare”.
According to the Ukrainian government authorities, Xiaomi was added to this list because it has been active in the Russian market and is the smartphone leader in this very market since the beginning of the conflict between the two countries.
Despite not carrying out marketing campaigns in Russia since spring 2022, Xiaomi is still effectively present in its smartphone market, since 2018 it has dominated online sales in that country.
According to data published by the NAZK agency, Xiaomi’s smartphone market share will have doubled by 2022, with sales increasing by 39% in the third quarter of that year, compared to the previous quarter.
It should be noted that these data were only published by the Ukrainian government agency. Xiaomi, the Russian authorities or independent market analysis companies have not confirmed or denied these same data.
Existing official data, published by Xiaomi, dates back to 2021 and reveals that the Chinese brand registered revenue of US$202 million in the Russian smartphone market, thanks to its leadership in online retail.
Regarding these revenues, the same Ukrainian government agency claims that the taxes paid were used to “support the Russian army and finance the war against Ukraine.”
In this regard, Xiaomi maintains its neutral position and has not publicly ruled on the accusation that is now being made.
So far, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption of Ukraine already includes 21 companies in this list of “sponsors of international war”.