Auchan's Retail position, 17 February 2023

...Auchan Retail flatly denies the statements made in this investigative report and their interpretation.

Auchan Retail is extremely surprised by these allegations, which are in no way corroborated by the reality of its internal investigation.

Auchan Retail thus reasserts that those of its stores that are open in Russia to enable the Russian population (like in Ukraine for the Ukrainian population) to have access to food do not provide any voluntary or active assistance to any supply to consumer categories other than the Russian civilian population...

...An order was placed in March 2022, just 3 weeks after the outbreak of the war, by the Saint Petersburg City Hall n Retail asserts once again that in March 2022, just 3 weeks after the outbreak of the war, the City Hall of Saint Petersburg reiterated an order (as it had made a year earlier in response to the Covid epidemic). There was nothing in the products ordered during that period that might have led the company’s contacts to suspect a particular final destination. When asked this morning following the publication of the article in Le Monde, Nataliya Z. denied having received a question from Aleksei R. and denied having answered it in the sense presented. Aleksei R. has not worked for the company since September 2022, having abruptly left the country. As far as Auchan and its teams are concerned, this order came from the Saint Petersburg City Council for the populations it supports...

...As with any buyer, individual or professional, Auchan has no way of knowing how the products purchased are ultimately used. Auchan Retail flatly denies the statements made in this investigative report and their interpretation.