In addition to official government sanctions, bars and liquor stores across the U.S. and Canada are attempting to economically hurt Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine by refusing to sell Russian vodka and other Russian liquor.
In Ontario, Canada, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy directed the provincial Liquor Control Board to have stores remove Russian vodka and other alcoholic products, according to the Canadian Press.
“Ontario joins Canada’s allies in condemning the Russian government’s act of aggression against the Ukrainian people and we strongly support the federal government’s efforts to sanction the Russian government,” Bethlenfalvy said. “We will continue to be there for the Ukrainian people during this extremely difficult time.”
Bethlenfalvy’s announcement came shortly after Canada’s Newfoundland Labrador Liquor Corporation (NLC) said that it would also remove Russian products.
“The Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation, along with other Liquor jurisdictions throughout Canada, has made the decision to remove products of Russian origin from its shelves,” NLC Liquor Store tweeted.
According to Statistics Canada, the country imported C$4.8 million ($3.78 million) worth of alcoholic beverages from Russia in 2021 – down 23.8 percent from C$6.3 million in 2020. Vodka is the second most popular spirit among Canadian consumers after whisky, Statscan said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced sanctions against Russia, meant to impose “severe costs on complicit Russian elites” and limit President Vladimir Putin’s ability to continue funding the invasion, reports Reuters.
Jamie Stratton, manager of the Jacob Liquor Exchange in Wichita, Kan., told The Hill that his store removed more than 100 bottles of Russian vodka from its shelves, referring to it as a “tiny sanction.”
He also noted that the store plans to display Ukrainian vodka more prominently.
A ski resort in Vermont posted a video of a bartender pouring Stoli vodka down the drain while saying, “We don’t serve Russian products here.”
“Sorry @Stoli lovers. No more,” Magic Mountain Ski Area tweeted, along with an emoji of the Ukrainian flag.
Bill McCormick, owner of Pine Tavern in Bend, Ore., also shared a video in which he pours out two bottles of Stolichnaya vodka, KPTV reported.
“Russia is acting as though it’s 1939 and going into Europe with the full force that they have in Ukraine. I am so concerned about it metastasizing into other countries,” he told the outlet.
More a symbolic gesture than anything else
While Canada imports of Russian vodka and other alcoholic beverages came to C$4.8 million ($3.78 million) in 2021, Paul Isely, an Associate Dean and Economics Professor at Grand Valley State University said there is about $41 million worth of sales of Russian vodka in the U.S. yearly.
“That’s really small compared to the $1.7 trillion economy in Russia, but for a company that can be very big so if we were to decrease the units sold, it would affect the profitability of those companies and affect their willingness to support [the conflict],” he said.
But Isely says hurting the companies making the vodka would unlikely influence Russian President Vladimir Putin or affect the country’s economy.
However, Isely says an argument could be made that any small boycott helps show solidarity. And, really – that is what it is all about, isn’t it?
“Having this symbolism that says, yes, there’s a large group of people who are supporting this by showing it and doing this type of thing,” he said. “By boycotting a product, it can help show people across the world that the United States isn’t divided by these types of things.”
