The National Agency for Preventing Corruption has added the owner of AliExpress, the Chinese group of companies Alibaba Group Holding Limited, to the list of international sponsors of war because it continues to do business in Russia.
The group provides its platforms for the sale of goods made from copper exported from the occupied territories of Ukraine.
In Russia, AliExpress became the most popular online marketplace, which is operated by the Russian subsidiary of the Alibaba group, Alibaba.COM (RU) LLC, the Agency noted. The owner of the company is Aliexpress Russia Holding Private Ltd, registered in Singapore. The profit of Alibaba.COM (RU) LLC in 2022 amounted to 16.3bn roubles (about $160m).
"In April 2023, Reuters reported that the Chinese company Quzhou Nova purchased at least 3,220 tonnes of copper alloy for a total of $7.4 million from the Debaltseve Metallurgical Engineering Plant (controlled by the Russians) between 8 October 2022 and 24 March 2023. According to customs, the copper alloy was shipped from the plant 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 NAPC said.
The agency stressed that Alibaba has been censoring Ukrainian content on its platforms related to the Russian invasion. In particular, last March, the company blocked the profile of a Ukrainian streamer with more than 268,000 followers on AliExpress for a post about the war. At the same time, pro-Russian posts on the platform are not removed.
"All the above facts may indicate that the company supports Russian aggression not only financially by paying taxes, but also ideologically," the NAPC said.