Ukraine designates Subway as 'international sponsor of war', 11 January 2024

American fast food chain Subway has been added to Ukraine's list of "international sponsors of war" for its continued presence in the Russian market, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) announced on Jan. 10...

Over 500 Subway franchises continue to operate in the Russian market, which pay "hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes to the budget of the Russian Federation," the NACP said.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, the company has not reported any reduction in its operations in the Russian Federation

Unlike other American fast food chains, Subway made no announcement to scale down or close operations in Russia,  and "there were no attempts by the company's management to condemn Russia's war," the NACP said...

The same month, Subway found out that Russian banks had begun to block the payment of franchisee royalty fees to Subway's headquarters in the U.S., which had been designated an "unfriendly country" by the Russian government.

A solution was found with the help of a Russian law firm, which determined Subway could legally collect royalties from the franchisees through a holding company...