Page 48 - bne magazine September 2021_20210901

48 I Eastern Europe bne September 2021
Two out of three adverts on Belarus' state TV were bought and paid for by leading western multinationals, who are continuing business as normal despite the brutal crackdown by the state on the population.
Western FMCG companies remain top advertisers on Belarusian state TV despite harsh sanctions regime
Ben Aris in Berlin
Companies from Europe and
the US place two out of three commercials broadcast on prime- time Belarusian state television, reports Libereco, an independent German- Swiss non-governmental organisation dedicated to the protection of human rights in Belarus and Ukraine.
Western companies and governments have shied away from cutting commercial ties to the regime of Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko, despite several rounds of some of the harshest sanctions on record and almost universal condemnation.
Moldova is the only European country to recognise Lukashenko as President,
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but that has not stopped some of the most famous fast moving consumer good (FMCG) companies, raw materials traders and banks from doing business with Belarus.
The list of FMCG advertisers spending heavily on advertising their wares on Belarusian prime-time state TV reads like a who’s who of western multinationals, with Proctor & Gamble leading the list.
None of them have cut their spending, according to a report by Libereco,
since the country was plunged into its worst political crisis ever following the disputed presidential elections last year on August 9.
The EU and US have both imposed harsh sanctions on Belarus in protest over
the brutal crackdown and Stalinesque repression that followed the elections as Lukashenko attempts to cling to power.
The EU has placed targeted sanctions on Belarus’ main exports as well as selective sanctions on Belarusian bonds. The US has also targeted leading Belarusian corporates. Dozens of top Belarusian officials, including Lukashenko, were also personally sanctioned by both the US and the EU in October 2020.
However, the EU blinked when it came to imposing sanctions on potash, Belarus’ main export cash cow. The