When Zoya, 62, from Moscow was planning a trip to Italy to see her daughter last August, she thought it would be a great opportunity to buy an Apple Watch, which she had long dreamed of owning. Ta.
Officially, Apple does not sell its products in Russia.
The California-based tech giant was one of the first companies to announce a withdrawal from Ukraine in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of the country on February 24, 2022.
But a week before her trip, Zoya made a surprising discovery while browsing Yandex.Market. Yandex.Market is one of Russia's answers to Amazon, where she regularly shops.
Not only was the Apple Watch available for sale on the website, it was also cheaper than in Italy.
Zoya immediately bought the watch.
The serial code on the watch delivered to her home confirmed that it was manufactured by Apple in 2022 and is scheduled for sale in the United States.
“At the store, they explained that these were genuine Apple products that were imported into Russia through parallel imports,” Zoya, who asked to be referred to by her first name only, told Al Jazeera.
“I found it much easier to buy online than to find a store in a new country.”
Approximately 1,400 companies, including many of the most internationally known brands, have announced that they will suspend or reduce operations in Russia starting in February 2022 in protest of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine.
But two years after the invasion, many of these companies' products are still widely sold in Russia, many in violation of Western-led sanctions, a months-long investigation by Al Jazeera has found. It turned out that.
With the support of the Russian government to legalize parallel imports, Russian companies have established a network of alternative supply chains to import restricted goods through third countries.
Companies that manufacture products are unwilling or unable to police these informal distribution networks.