Ukrainian retail chains halt sales of The Coca-Cola Company's products

KYIV. March 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) - A number of Ukrainian retail chains have removed products of The Coca-Cola Company of the United States from sale because it is continuing its operations on the Russian market. In particular, the supermarket chains Novus and Varus have announced this decision.

"Our supermarket chain is no longer cooperating with The Coca-Cola Company. We're rejecting all the products owned by the brand," the Novus supermarket chain's official Facebook account wrote on Friday.

The Varus chain, in turn, said its decision was made in light of The Coca-Cola Company announcing earlier its intention to continue operations on the Russian market.

The Ukrainian retail chains elaborated that the sales of the carbonated drinks Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Schweppes, the BonAqua mineral water, the FuzeTea iced tea, the Rich juices, and the energy drinks Monster and Burn have been halted.

On February 24, the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company AG, a leading anchor bottler and distributor of The Coca-Cola Company, announced that the operations of its Kyiv plant were temporarily suspended, and the evacuation of its employees was underway.