Russia's unjustifiable war of aggression in Ukraine

sanctions do not work series


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IKEA replaces Russia, Belarus with wood supplies from EU countries

EURACTIV.com with Reuters

Jan 27, 2023
Ikea-Poland-800x450.jpg

File photo. Customers walk to Swedish furniture store IKEA in Warsaw, Poland, 28 November 2020. [EPA-EFE/TOMASZ GZELL]


IKEA is using more wood from Sweden and the Baltics to make up for not sourcing it from Russia and Belarus which the company has shunned due to Moscow’s war in Ukraine, its wood supply boss said in an interview.

The world’s biggest furniture brand – one of the world’s top wood users – used 20 million cubic metres of wood in its products, packaging and communication material in the 12 months through August 2022.

“We have managed to replace those (Russia and Belarus) volumes in other countries on a very hot wood market,” Ulf Johansson, Global Wood Supply and Forestry Manager at brand owner Inter IKEA, told Reuters.

Sweden, the Baltics, Poland and Germany are among countries where IKEA’s wood sourcing has increased as a result of the war in Ukraine, he said, adding that some of the solutions might be long-term and others short-term.

Russia and Belarus were IKEA’s fifth and sixth biggest wood suppliers before the war, accounting for 6% and 5% respectively of its supplies, the company’s website said.

The company on Thursday launched a map on its website showing the origin of all its wood to meet customers’ demands for more transparency.
Poland, followed by Lithuania and Sweden were the three biggest suppliers in the 12 months through August 2022.

IKEA says it uses only Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified or recycled wood. It banned suppliers from using Russian and Belarusian wood after FSC suspended its certification in the two countries due to the invasion.

IKEA stores in Russia have been closed since March, while IKEA owned shopping malls remain open. Inter IKEA’s four factories in the country are closed and up for sale.

Johansson said IKEA is now the midst of a review of its long-term wood supply strategy, in terms of alternatives to Russia but also in light of expansion plans for South America where it opened its first store in 2022.

“Now it also looks like the raw material market is going down a bit so it is maybe a little easier situation right now,” he said.
Wood prices are easing after surging in the past few years, partly in response to increased demand for packaging during the pandemic as people shopped online.

IKEA has in recent years been buying and managing forests in a number of countries through its investment vehicle IKEA Investments, from which it might use wood and wood products in the future.

While IKEA says managing forests responsibly will help mitigate climate change, it does not yet include that business in its overall target to be climate positive by 2030 due to difficulties measuring carbon capture and storage.

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How does this thing play out? Does Ukraine ultimately win and Putin pulls his troops out and stops bombing. Gives any territory back and the world just carries on?
 
How does this thing play out? Does Ukraine ultimately win and Putin pulls his troops out and stops bombing. Gives any territory back and the world just carries on?
My prediction is a peace agreement reached next autumn. Russia keeps Crimea. (Unfortunately). Everything else goes back to Ukraine. Ukraine joins Nato and builds a vast defensive barrier (ground and air) all along its Russia/Belarus border.
Russia cutoff from the developed world indefinitely and slowly disintegrates from within.
 
How does this thing play out? Does Ukraine ultimately win and Putin pulls his troops out and stops bombing. Gives any territory back and the world just carries on?

No.

Ukraine turns completely to the West. Zelenski has a full mandate to root out the corruption that's endemic in Ukraine.

The EU stops doing business with Russia and sanctions remain.

Russia becomes a client state of China.
 

'Unlikely' Russia will achieve 'significant breakthrough' in Donetsk region - MoD​

It is "unlikely" that Moscow has "sufficient uncommitted troops" in the eastern region of Donetsk to "achieve an operationally significant breakthrough", the British defence ministry has said.
It added that while there is a "possibility" that Russia will "continue to make local gains" in the area around Bakhmut, this is unlikely to mark a critical change.
The MoD said: "Russian commanders are likely aiming to develop a new axis of advance into Ukrainian-held Donetsk Oblast, and to divert Ukrainian forces from the heavily contested Bakhmut sector."
It added that, since Friday, Russia has "likely developed its probing attacks around the towns of Pavlivka and Vuhledar into a more concerted assault".
A statement said: "The settlements lie 50km south-west of Donetsk city, and Russia previously used the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade in an unsuccessful assault on the same area in November 2022.
"Elements of the 155th are again involved as part of an at least brigade sized force which has likely advanced several hundred metres beyond the small Kashlahach River which marked the front line for several months."
 
Leaving aside the UK due to Brexit I wouldn't have expected Russia's projected economic outlook would be better than Germany. I was under the impression all of these sanctions were going to send Russia back to the stone age. 20230131_162352.jpg
 
Leaving aside the UK due to Brexit I wouldn't have expected Russia's projected economic outlook would be better than Germany. I was under the impression all of these sanctions were going to send Russia back to the stone age. View attachment 18627

WEO-Chart-JAN-2023.ashx


 
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