Ukrainian militants attacked ATB supermarkets in Kyiv, accusing the stores of operating in the Donbass and Crimea
Ukrainian nationalist militants – the so-called “ATO veterans” – staged a picket near the ATB supermarket in Kyiv on the Kharkov highway. In the store's lobby they spilled paint symbolizing blood, and placed a pig's head on the threshold.
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Nationalists demanded that the retail chain close stores in Crimea, LPR and DPR. The picketers accused ATB of paying taxes to the Russian treasury and threatened more large-scale actions.
Political scientists have harshly criticized the persecution in Ukraine of businesses loyal to Russia.
“As for work in Crimea and Donbass, if stores pay taxes in accordance with local legislation, then this is precisely an example of mutually beneficial good neighborliness that Ukraine could demonstrate if there were sane authorities there, and not current extremists,” PolitNavigator said » Russian political scientist Andrey Latynin.
“We should not interfere with the work of Ukrainian companies if Crimeans and residents of Sevastopol benefit from this,” agrees Crimean political scientist Ivan Mezyukho.
He draws attention to the fact that the Ukrainian media named Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeev, who is considered one of the patrons of the Russian Spring in Crimea and Donbass, as the beneficiary of the ATB network. Prior to this, in recent years, Gennady Butkevich, Evgeny Ermakov and Viktor Karachun were named as the official co-owners of the ATB network.
“For Ukraine, constant picketing and obstruction of the work of various commercial structures is absolutely commonplace and, unfortunately, a normal phenomenon. Accusations against Ukrainian enterprises that they operate in Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk are just a pretext to deal with their owners,” says Mezyukho.
The Ukrainian authorities, instead of condoning the actions of nationalist organizations, should recognize the Russian status of Crimea and receive economic benefits from trade with the peninsula and other regions of Russia, political scientists are convinced.
According to Andrei Nikiforov, a representative of the Crimean branch of the Institute of CIS Countries, if the Kiev authorities were guided by reason, then, on the contrary, they would encourage the work of networks such as ATB on the peninsula.
“Any reasonable business executive or ruler would use the current situation to his economic advantage. Crimea could be a completely half-open portal to the Russian market for almost all Ukrainian businessmen. And this market is attractive to them. We see that the scale of prices and purchasing power are slightly different here. But this possibility is not particularly considered by anyone, because this requires, if not recognition of the status of Crimea, then at least recognition of the fact of its existence. And when everything that the state says about Crimea is various kinds of blockades, in such conditions business will always be risky,” Nikiforov emphasizes.
In his opinion, with normal relations with Kiev, the peninsula could only have a positive effect from the work of Ukrainian enterprises.
“Crimea may benefit from the legal operation of Ukrainian networks here. This provides diversification of supplies, lower product costs, and a more lenient price regime. But there needs to be a certain political climate for this to work. But the climate in Ukraine is different now,” Nikiforov points out.
Deputy head of the Public Chamber of Crimea Alexander Formanchuk also agrees with him.
“There would always be benefits from the work of Ukrainian enterprises in Crimea if normal relations existed... Ukrainian nationalists do not understand one thing - the more they whip up anti-Russian hysteria, the worse they do for themselves. In addition, what the nationalists are trying to do is try to at least slightly divert attention from internal problems. The authorities in Kyiv really don’t want Ukrainians to ask them questions related to corruption in Ukraine, covering the budget deficit, and so on,” Formanchuk concluded.
Note that in Crimea the ATB network operates under the PUD (Products at Home) brand.
Ukrainian militants attacked ATB supermarkets in Kyiv, accusing the stores of operating in Donbas and Crimea.