#Russia #problem #Ukraine #Zaras #latest #action #proves #Executive #Digest
Propaganda may deceive the most convinced, but money rarely deceives: 770 days after an invasion that should have lasted three, the Kremlin now has a new problem. The “special military operation” opened a front of tens of thousands of deaths, destroyed armored vehicles, burning oil refineries and internal security instability after the terrorist attack on the outskirts of Moscow: but now the danger arrives from the textile empire under the command by Spanish Marta Ortega.
After two years with the curtains closed, Inditex has reopened 20 of its 84 stores in Ukraine. During this period, the company continued to pay the salaries of its thousand employees and maintained most of the facilities through agreements with the owners. At the same time, it got rid of one of its most profitable markets: on March 5, 2022, Inditex announced the closure of its 500 stores in Russia, where it earned 8.5% of its operating profit.
Even with the door open for a future return to Russia, the message left with the reopening in Kiev seems even more powerful.
If one of the main groups in the fashion industry, which increased its net profit by 30% in 2023, is convinced to return to Ukraine, it means that there is business, but, above all, that Putin’s initial plan to take Kiev from assault and “overthrowing the Nazi regime” is now a utopia, said the Spanish newspaper ‘El Confidencial’.
But it is not the only large company returning to Ukraine: McDonald’s had the help of Antony Blinken, American Secretary of State, to return six months after the start of the war. Since then, many other multinationals have returned to Ukraine.
Óscar García, CEO of Inditex, assured last year that “if the situation changed” they could return to Moscow. For now, the company has transferred the business to the Emirati group Daher, managed by three Lebanese brothers responsible for distributing Zara in several countries in the Middle East. Zara Russia became Zarina, largely imitating the Spanish line, although the clothing and economic results are far from similar.
Zara’s return to Kiev, on the second floor of the River Mall, Kiev’s largest shopping center on the east bank of the Dnieper, was applauded by Ukrainians, eager for new signs of some normality. “Not even on Black Friday are the stores crowded like this!”, explained one of the workers to the Spanish publication: Tetyana returned to Ukraine after having fled to the West, to continue her life. Now, she runs back and forth helping customers and folding clothes.
It is the nature of war, to advance at different speeds. 600 kilometers away, Russia attacks positions in Donbass and the Ukrainian military continues to raise money to alleviate the lack of material. The differences between the two worlds are growing and the fear of another disconnection between the combat zones and the rest of the country is mortifying many soldiers who until two years ago were civilians.
