Ukrainians in Ireland 'cautiously optimistic' exports of Jameson to Russia will end

Jameson owner Pernod Ricard said it was working hard to find the best way to stop the export of their brands to Russia while ensuring the welfare and safety of their team

Anatoliy Prymakov of Ukranian Action Ireland outside Irish Distillers in Dublin.

Campaigners say they are “cautiously optimistic” that their message has landed with global drinks group Pernod-Ricard set to halt exports of Jameson whiskey to Russia following a public backlash.

Activists, led by Ukrainian Action Ireland, staged a demonstration outside the Dublin headquarters of Irish Distillers and parent company Pernod-Ricard on Thursday, protesting a decision by the company to resume exports of Jameson to Russia.

As Pernod-Ricard now looks set to halt exports of Jameson to Russia on the back of public pressure, co-founder of Ukrainian Action Ireland Anatoliy Prymakov said it was “encouraging to see” a brand listening to public opinion.

“We don’t really want to get into confrontational relationships with any brand, we just want to highlight to them that this is a bad decision, and the public feel that it’s a bad decision — and they do, we’ve received a lot of contact from a lot of people saying that it’s a bad decision and they don’t support it,” he said.

“It looks like the message has landed. We will of course wait for the official confirmation, but it is good to see that they seem to understand the public opinion and they seem to be listening to the public opinion,” he added.

Mr Prymakov said it would “reflect badly on Ireland” to continue to do business with Russia, as even just last night Russian missiles levelled a residential building in Ukraine, killing at least six people.

It’s an ongoing issue, the fact that we have to constantly explain to certain businesses who are understandably reluctant to give up the profits they might be getting from trading in Russia. 

"But we do have to remind them how badly that looks on them, and the effect that it’s having, because at the end of the day doing business in Russia, they will pay taxes in Russia, and that goes towards sponsoring the conflict,” he said.

Ukrainian Action Ireland’s campaign was sparked by the fact Pernod-Ricard had quietly rowed back on an announcement in March of last year that it was halting all exports to Russia in light of the invasion of Ukraine.

By September 2022, the company amended its public statement in support of Ukraine to remove any mention of suspending exports, and many drinks brands are currently listed on Pernod-Ricard’s website as being available in Russia, including Irish-made Jameson whiskey.

In a statement on Thursday evening, the company said they were working hard to find the best way to stop the export of their brands to Russia, while ensuring the welfare and safety of their team.

“Our commitment to protect our colleagues in the region has been the guiding principle of the difficult choices we have made, and we continue to work hard to find the best solution to this difficult dilemma. We will be providing updates as appropriate,” the statement read.

Irish companies which have cut ties with Russia

• Professional services firm Accenture announced in March of last year it was discontinuing all business in Russia;
• Food ingredients giant Kerry Group also announced it would be suspending operations in Russia and Belarus, after a number of weeks of scaling back its activities in the two countries, putting various businesses in the two countries up for sale or divesting them to local management;
• Cork-headquartered Johnson Controls, an international provider of building technologies and services, announced in March last year that apart from fulfilling existing contractual obligations it was suspending its business in Russia and would not accept new orders;
• Aircraft leasing giant AerCap announced it was ceasing leasing activity with Russian airlines and lost 113 planes when Russian authorities seized the aircraft in response to sanctions;
• Building materials company CRH announced in March it was ceasing operations in Russia and withdrawing from the market but said its operations there were "infinitesimally small";
• Insulation firm Kingspan sold its Russian operations to local management;
• Dublin-headquartered games company Playrix said it was shutting down all operations in Russia and Belarus and relocating staff to other countries;
• Packaging firm Smurfit Kappa sold its operations in Russia to local management taking a €128m financial hit from the move;
• Trane Technologies said it was suspending all business activities indefinitely and exiting Russia.