The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption has added China’s Alibaba Group Holding Limited to the list of international sponsors of the war. This is stated in the report of NAPC.

This decision was made because the group of companies continues to operate in Russia. For example, it provides its platforms for the sale of goods made of copper exported from the occupied territories of Ukraine.

This year, the company announced a restructuring plan to divide Alibaba Group into 6 groups: Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao Tmall Business Group (Taobao, Tmall, Taobao Deals, Taocaica\i, 1688.com), Local Services Group (Amap, Ele.me), Global Digital Business Group (Lazada, AliExpress, Trendyol, Daraz, Alibaba.com), Cainiao Smart Logistics, and Digital Media and Entertainment Group (Youku, Alibaba Pictures).

In Russia, the most widespread platform is AliExpress, which is operated by the Russian subsidiary of the Alibaba Group, Alibaba.COM (RU) LLC. It is owned by Aliexpress Russia Holding Private Ltd. registered in Singapore. As of 2023, the company continues to operate in Russia, providing an international platform for the sale of foreign goods.

This spring, Reuters reported that the Chinese company Quzhou Nova purchased at least 3,220 tons of copper alloy for a total of $7.4 million from the Russian-controlled Debaltseve Metallurgical Engineering Plant between October 8, 2022 and March 24, 2023. According to customs records, the alloy was shipped through the port of Novorossiysk. The company uses the copper exported from the occupied territories to produce goods that it sells on Alibaba platforms.

As a reminder, Alibaba has been censoring Ukrainian content related to the Russian war on its platforms. In March 2022, Alibaba blocked the profile of a Ukrainian streamer with more than 268 thousand subscribers on AliExpress for a post about the war. However, pro-Russian posts on the platform are not deleted.

This may indicate that the company supports Russian aggression not only financially by paying taxes, but also ideologically.