Nike ceased its sportswear sales to Russia shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over two years ago.
Despite this, footballstore.ru, an online sports retailer owned by Russia’s Zenit soccer club, continues to offer Nike products. The site features a range of Nike-branded items, including the U.S. sportswear maker’s Phantom GT2 Elite soccer boots, priced at 29,999 roubles (approximately $330).
The individual responsible for importing these shoes to Russia is Wijnand Herinckx, a 40-year-old Dutch citizen residing in Moscow.
Since the conflict began, Herinckx has developed a successful business supplying Russian consumers with Western goods from companies that have exited the Russian market.
“Nike does not want their products to be shipped to Russia,” Herinckx told Reuters in a video call from his office on the outskirts of Moscow, where shelves are stacked with boxes of Western branded footwear. But he added: “They are also not telling us not to do it.”
Both Nike and Lego informed Reuters that they have not authorized Wijnand Herinckx’s imports of their products to Russia. An investigation by Reuters, which included examining customs data, corporate records, internal company documents, and an interview with Herinckx, revealed how his business operates.
His company uses intermediaries unconnected to Russia to purchase branded goods, which are then shipped to Russia, often via Turkey, and finally delivered to Russian retailers.
There are numerous firms similar to Herinckx’s employing grey-market methods to supply Western goods to Russia, as revealed by Reuters’ analysis of customs data. Herinckx’s business demonstrates the challenge Western governments and brands face in isolating Russia’s economy: where there is demand, supply finds a way.
Western sanctions have primarily targeted industrial products that could be used for Russia’s military. Herinckx focuses on consumer goods not covered by these sanctions, and Reuters found no evidence of his firm violating any sanctions.
Nevertheless, firms like his indirectly support the Russian economy by ensuring consumers can still access foreign goods they have been accustomed to since the end of communism. Customs data shows that Nike product imports to Russia dropped by 81% in 2022 to $21 million but rebounded in 2023 to at least $74 million.
Nike stated that it does not supply Herinckx’s firm or any related businesses. It emphasized that it no longer has any physical or digital retail operations in Russia and does not authorize any marketplace partners to distribute its products there.
Nike also mentioned having a dedicated team to investigate unauthorized distribution channels. However, a spokesperson did not address how these products are reaching Russia.
In mid-2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, Nike announced its exit from the Russian market, and Lego stated it was closing its Russian business. As global brands ceased sales or exports due to the invasion, Russia authorized businesses to import products without the trademark owner’s permission, leading to more than $70 billion in parallel imports over two years.
Legal experts suggest that pursuing recourse under Russian law would be difficult for Western brands, leaving limited legal options for enforcing intellectual property rights typically bound to the territory of infringement.
The availability of Western brands allows Russian President Vladimir Putin to convey the message that the war has not disrupted the ‘normal life’ of the Russian middle class, according to Sergei Guriev, a Russian economist and provost at Paris’ Sciences Po university.
‘PROUD OF IT’
Herinckx’s Russian company employs 82 staff and forecasts revenues of 35 million euros (about $37 million) for 2024, compared to $23.7 million in 2023, according to company accounts.
During Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Herinckx was employed in the Moscow office of the German company Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. He led a team of over 20 people, facilitating foreign companies’ sales in Russia without requiring local operations. Following the invasion, Hellmann decided to exit Russia, but Herinckx chose to stay due to his family ties in the country.
He took over a Hellmann entity, renamed it Herinckx Trade Solutions Rus (HTS Rus), and registered it under his wife’s name in April 2022.
Initially, Herinckx used Hellmann’s email servers and a variation of its logo for marketing purposes. Both Herinckx and Hellmann confirmed a transitional agreement that allowed him to use some of Hellmann’s infrastructure.
Hellmann stated that the agreement to use its logo expired in October 2022, and its intellectual property was used without consent after that. Herinckx called this an oversight and ceased using Hellmann’s logos in January 2024. Hellmann now has no connection to Herinckx’s business and no longer operates in Russia.
HTS Rus ships various goods to Russia, including Reebok sports shoes and Emporio Armani wristwatches. Herinckx admitted that he did not have authorization from these brands. Armani Group confirmed it had stopped authorized shipments to Russian distributors and was unaware of how HTS Rus obtained its products.
Reebok’s owner, Authentic Brands Group, which suspended all branded stores and e-commerce operations in Russia in 2022, did not respond to requests for comment.
Herinckx’s firm does not publicly disclose its customers, but Reuters identified some Russian clients through documents filed with Russian tax authorities.
These clients included major supermarket chains and online retailers in Russia. Herinckx asserted that his firm is a responsible corporate entity involved in charity work. When asked why he chose to speak publicly about his operations, he responded, “What we do is quite cool, we are proud of it.”
EUROPEAN ROUTE
Among Herinckx’s achievements is importing Lego bricks, despite the Danish firm strictly enforcing its policy of not selling to Russia. Lego and Herinckx both confirmed that the company includes clauses in contracts with retailers and distributors prohibiting resale to Russia. Herinckx circumvented this restriction by inserting a chain of intermediaries between Lego and Russia. He buys Lego bricks from a European company unconnected to his business, using a Netherlands-registered entity he owns called HTS Europe B.V. These goods are then transported directly from Europe to Russia, passing through customs checks.
Once in Russia, HTS Rus, Herinckx’s Russian business, takes control of the Lego products, according to loan data and tax documents. Herinckx supplies Lego to about 48 Russian firms, primarily specialist toy retailers.
He expressed a personal connection to the brand, saying, “My children play with Lego. I have nothing against other children playing with Lego.”
Lego, however, has issues with his operations. After Reuters contacted Lego for comment in late April, the company wrote to HTS Rus, accusing it of falsely claiming collaboration with Lego on its website. HTS Rus then modified the English-language version of its website, removing an image of Lego figures and replacing it with generic children’s plastic toys.
As of June 13, the Russian-language version of the site still displayed the Lego logo.
In a statement to Reuters, Lego said, “We are concerned to learn of this flow of goods considering we stopped shipping LEGO products into Russia in March 2022. This is an issue we take seriously and are acting upon, while ensuring that we comply with local laws and regulations where we continue to operate.”
TRANSPORTED THROUGH TURKEY
Some Western goods reach Russia via Turkey, a key hub for grey-market imports. Herinckx sources Nike and some Lego products in Turkey through a company named HTS Poer Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, which procures goods from Turkish retailers or distributors, though he declined to specify which ones.
HTS Poer co-founder Murat Erbelger told Reuters that the company deals exclusively in legitimate business and has no involvement with sanctioned products. Erbelger did not comment on HTS Poer’s connection to Herinckx Trade Solutions.
The Turkish presidency’s communications directorate did not respond to inquiries about grey-market goods entering Russia through Turkey.
Customs data from June 2022 to December 2023 indicated that HTS Poer supplied at least $4 million worth of Nike products to Russia. Herinckx stated that, to his knowledge, all these shipments were destined for his company.
Once in Russia, the Nike products are distributed to Herinckx’s retail clients, including footballstore.ru, which is entirely owned by Zenit soccer club, according to tax records and internal HTS Rus documents.
Zenit is sponsored by Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas company, and partially owned by Gazprombank, which is subject to U.S. sanctions on the Russian banking sector. Gazprombank, Gazprom, and Zenit did not respond to requests for comment.
Reuters tested the supply chain by purchasing a pair of Phantom GT2 Elite Nike soccer boots from footballstore.ru. The boots were delivered ten days later. Nike did not comment on the shoes.
The shoe box indicated a manufacture date of September 2022, three months after Nike announced it had ceased sales in Russia. A label on the box identified Herinckx’s HTS Rus as the importer.
