Which Russian products are being removed by UK supermarkets? Sainsbury’s bans items following Ukraine invasion

A number of UK supermarkets have removed Russian products from their shelves to stand against the war in Ukraine.

On Friday (4 March) Sainsbury’s announced it will ban certain items to stand “united with the people of Ukraine”.

Similar announcements were made on the same day by retailers Waitrose and Co-op as Russia continues to attack its neighbour with fighting across the country.

The war is estimated to have killed hundreds of civilians and displaced more than a million people since it began.

Here’s which products have been banned by UK supermarkets following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Which items have been removed by Sainsbury’s?

Sainsbury’s announced it would remove from its stores all products “that are sourced 100% from Russia”.

This includes  Russian Standard vodka and Karpayskiye black sunflower seeds.

The supermarket had also considered removing JJ Whitley products from its shelves too. But production is moving to the UK at the end of this month.

The Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: "We support their announcement earlier in the week that they are moving all production to Chorley, and will therefore continue to sell those products."

What else has Sainsbury’s changed?

The supermarket has also made a big change to the packaging of one of its popular food products by renaming one of its chicken dishes.

The spokesperson said: “We are re-naming ‘Chicken Kiev’ to ‘Chicken Kyiv’ and the new packaging will be available in the coming weeks."

This is in recognition of Ukraine’s preferred spelling of its capital city.

Which products have been removed by other supermarkets?

A spokesperson for Aldi said the supermarket had removed Russian-sourced vodka from its shelves.

Asda confirmed it will stop selling products that originate from Russia but did not name specific items.

Co-op Food has taken Russian Standard vodka off sale and Morrisons has announced the same measure.

John Lewis Partnership, which runs the department store John Lewis and supermarket Waitrose, said it was removing products made in Russia from sale.

Russian Vodka will stop being sold in Waitrose and one line of pizza oven pellets in John Lewis.

Are pubs removing Russian drinks?

Pub chain Wetherspoons has removed Baltika Lager from its 870 locations across the UK.

Vodka has also been removed from 25 bars across London, Birmingham and Bristol belonging to the Nightcap group.

What have UK supermarkets said?

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We have reviewed our product range and have decided to remove from sale all products that are 100% sourced from Russia.

“This means that from today we will no longer sell two products – Russian Standard vodka and Karpayskiye black sunflower seeds.”

John Lewis Partnership said: “We’re working with our suppliers to review products that have components of Russian origin and will be seeking to mitigate further exposure to the region.”

In a statement the Co-op said: “In response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces and as a sign of solidarity with the people of Ukraine, we have taken the decision to remove from sale Russian-made vodka.

“It will not be stocked for the foreseeable future.”

While a Tesco spokesperson said it would not be “buying products from businesses that are wholly Russian owned”.

What other countries are banning Russian products?

Finland and Sweden were the first to ban alcohol from Russia.

This was then followed by authorities in Norway.

Retailers in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland have also pulled Russian-made vodka from their shelves.

Major supermarkets across Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania went further in banning all goods originating from Russia.

Bartenders across the United States are pulling Russian-made products from their shelves.

Republican governors of Ohio, Utah and New Hampshire have issued orders restricting the sale of some Russian vodkas.

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going. You can also sign up to our newsletters and get a curated selection of our best reads to your inbox every day.