Wetherspoons has stopped selling Russian beer in its pubs due to the current crisis in Ukraine.
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon announced bottles of the Baltika Lager – brewed in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s home city of St Petersburg – will be removed from sale in all of its UK pubs.
In a statement a spokesperson for the company said they just ‘could not stock it anymore’ and all the 5.4% alcoholic beverage would be sent back to Carlsberg – who distribute the beer.
“In light of the situation in Ukraine we just felt that we could not stock it anymore,” the statement read.
“As of today all those beers won’t be available in any Wetherspoon pub and have either been or are in the process of being returned to the Carlsberg distributor.”
The company was quick to say they were not ‘implying’ the brewery is ‘directly involved’ but they just don’t want to serve Russian beer to their customers in support of Ukraine.
“We are not implying in any way that anyone involved with the brewery is directly involved with what’s going on but we thought in light of the current situation our pubs don’t want to be serving Russian beers,” it continued.
The pubs will continue to sell Smirnoff, as this is actually owned by London firm Diageo and produced in different distilleries around the world.
Wetherspoons isn’t the only company in hospitality to take a stand this way; according to The Express, Nightcap Group, which owns venues ‘The Cocktail Club’, has also pulled sales of vodka in it’s 25 bars.
Along with this The Mirror newspaper reported the Compare the Market has also pulled its adverts which feature Russian meerkat Aleksandr Orlov from appearing alongside news bulletins regarding the war in Ukraine.
A CompareTheMarket spokesperson told The Mirror: “The CompareTheMarket meerkats are fictional characters. They have no association with Russia and the current situation.
“We are continually reviewing our advertising to ensure we’re being sensitive to the current situation.”