PepsiCo Inc announced it has now stopped making Pepsi, 7UP, and Mountain Dew in Russia. The announcement comes nearly six months after the U.S. company said it would suspend sales and production in Russia after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine at the end of February.
In March, PepsiCo announced it was suspending both the production and sale of Pepsi-Cola and other global beverage brands in Russia.
But a recent investigation showed that dozens of supermarkets, retailers, and gyms in Moscow and beyond still had cans and bottles of Pepsi printed with July and August production dates from factories within Russia. The most recent date on a Pepsi product was August 17.
Today PepsiCo reported it stopped the manufacturing of several of its popular soda brands in Russia. The move comes one month after its big rival, Coca-Cola, announced it stopped all sales and production in the country.
Pepsi now joins several other major global food and beverage brands that have scaled down or suspended their businesses in Russia this year.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the country was hit by a string of Western-led economic sanctions, prompting several western brands to leave.
Another company that pulled sales out of Russia was the Swiss food and beverage major Nestle. Nestle announced plans in March to scale back its operations in Russia, including the sale of popular brands like KitKat and Nesquik. The announcement to scale back its sales came after the company faced boycott calls.
Pepsi was one of the longest-operating U.S. businesses in Russia, having entered the country back in 1971. Its tenure in Russia was alluded to in its March announcement, noting that it arrived at “the height of the Cold War and helped create common ground between the United States and the Soviet Union.”
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