Ukraine Accuses Subway Of 'Financing The Murders Of Ukrainians' By Supporting Russia

In a statement, Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) announced that the famous sandwich chain Subway, has been added to its list of "international war sponsors".

Already on the list of those accused of supporting international conflict, after continuing to conduct business in Russia, are brands PepsiCo, Philip Morris International and Procter and Gamble.

The companies have declined to comment.

Shortly Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine pressured the brand to stunt its operations in Russia.

Despite claiming its standing with Kyiv, Subway said that its hands were tied with ceasing all sales and business in Russia.

In response to Ukraine's asking, Subway wrote: "Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine, and we are committed to supporting those impacted by the tragic events in the region."

The brand continued to note that it was "working with our franchisees across Europe to provide meals to refugees [and] redirecting any profits from operations in Russia to humanitarian efforts supporting Ukrainians who have been affected by the war".

"We don't directly control these independent franchisees and their restaurants," Subway's statement claimed.

For almost two years, since Moscow launched its assault on Kyiv, the US fast food restaurant has continued to operate more than 500 of its stores across Russia.

Ukraine has since accused the brand of supporting Moscow by financing President Putin's aggression.

In its recent statement, the NACP has since called the brands initial claims "misleading" and "untrue", noting that Subway has been using sanctioned Russian social networks to market its brand.

The Ukrainian agency went on to accuse the fast-food chain of delivering its products through Russia's main search engine.

The brand has paid "hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes" to the Russian Federation, the Ukrainian agency said.

For more than 20 years, Subway has been operating in Russia. The sandwich brand has created some 6,000 jobs in its 550 restaurants across the country.

There are currently Subway restaurants in 122 Russian cities, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Kazan.

The NACP referred to Russia as a "terrorist state" that has had its employment sector boosted by the sandwich chain.

Subway, which generated around $10.37 billion in sales in 2022, has been "financing the murders of Ukrainians", the NACP declared.

"Subway actively advertises its activities through sanctioned Russian social networks and delivers food through Yandex services, which cooperate with the state and law enforcement agencies of the aggressor country," the statement, which has been translated from Ukrainian to English, continued.

According to the NACP, Yandex services have been listed as one of the candidates for sanctions by the National Committee of the Russian Federation.

The sandwich brand currently operates in more than 100 nations across the globe, profiting from almost 37,000 restaurants that are owned by franchises – according to Subway.

The NACP also revealed that the Russian Subway chain has since been named the third largest in Europe, falling behind the UK and Germany.

After allegedly reaching out to the company, the Ukrainian agency said that the brands management team made no attempt to "condemn Russia's war against Ukraine".

Despite Western companies being banned from receiving bank royalties, individual payments that are transferred to the owner of an intellectual property, the NACP accused Subway of hiring a Russian law firm to find a legal way to collect the royalties from Russian franchises.

Subway has not yet responded to the allegations.

Ukraine's crackdown on the sandwich brand comes after the French sports retail giant Decathlon was slammed for continuing to sell goods in Russia.

A recent investigative report, conducted by the non-profit newsroom Disclose, exposed a "secret contract" between Decathlon and the ARM company, Desport.