AliExpress owner listed as war sponsor by Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency

This was reported by the press service of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NAPC).

They recalled that in 2023, the company announced a restructuring plan that would divide Alibaba Group into 6 groups: Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao Tmall Business Group (Taobao, Tmall, Taobao Deals, Taocaica\i, 1688.com), Local Services Group (Amap, Ele.me), Global Digital Business Group (Lazada, AliExpress, Trendyol, Daraz, Alibaba.com), Cainiao Smart Logistics, Digital Media and Entertainment Group (Youku, Alibaba Pictures).

"In Russia, the most widespread online commerce platform is AliExpress, which is managed by Alibaba's Russian subsidiary, Alibaba.COM (RU) LLC.  The owner of Alibaba.COM (RU) LLC is Aliexpress Russia Holding Private Ltd, a Singapore-registered company. As of 2023, the company continues to do business in Russia, providing an international platform for the sale of foreign goods. The profit of Alibaba.COM (RU) LLC for 2022 amounted to 16.3 billion rubles (about $160 million)," the NAPC noted.

It is also known that the Chinese company Quzhou Nova purchased copper alloy from the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas. Thus, between 8 October 2022 and 24 March 2023, 3,220 tonnes of raw materials were exported from the Debaltseve Metallurgical Engineering Plant. According to customs, the plant shipped copper alloy through the port of Novorossiysk.

"The company uses the copper exported from the occupied territories to produce goods that it sells on Alibaba's platforms," the NACP said.

As of June 16, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention had added 29 companies to the list of international sponsors of the war. Among them, in particular, are China's Xiaomi and Great Wall, Hungary's OTP Bank, Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International, Bonduelle, French chain Auchan, German Metro and other companies.

On August 10, the world's largest alcohol producer Bacardi was added to the list.