Chinese Alibaba stopped sending goods to Russia due to the threat of sanctions
Now Russians need to use ‘some transit schemes’, which will lead to higher prices for goods
The Chinese company Alibaba, the owner of AliExpress, has tightened conditions for Russian businesses: it has stopped accepting rubles and does not allow deliveries to Russia.
Source. This was reported by Kommersant FM, citing market sources.
‘Russian cards are no longer accepted, with the exception of some banks, but Alibaba will most likely just return the money in a few days,’ said marketplace expert Artem Bobtsov.
According to him, ‘schemes with Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Armenian cards will have to be used, but it is not entirely clear how the goods will be physically shipped to Russia.’
He also noted that the changes concern not only the payment policy, but also the policy of sending goods, which means that ‘some transit schemes will have to be used’, which will lead to higher prices and a loss of ‘economic sense’ in purchasing goods on marketplaces.
Economic expert Semyon Novoprudsky believes that Alibaba's decision is related to fears of secondary sanctions from the US, which have caused other problems with Russian payments in China since the beginning of 2024.
In response to RBC's request to Alibaba, the company's press service said that payment for goods from AliExpress and their delivery to Russia are working as usual.
Background. As the Financial Times wrote the day before, Western companies such as Avon Products, Air Liquide and Reckitt have remained in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, mainly due to increased bureaucratic obstacles and renewed customer activity.
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