Condé Nast ceases operation in Russia amid the “senseless war” against Ukraine and the country’s new censorship laws, CEO Roger Lynch said in a memo to staff this week.
Early last month, Lynch announced that the company was suspending publishing operations in Condé Nast Russia, as “we continue to be shocked and horrified by the senseless violence and tragic humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.”
On Tuesday, Lynch said that the company would close its entire Russian franchise, citing the ongoing war and “the escalation in the severity of the censorship laws, which have significantly curtailed free speech and punished reporters simply for doing their jobs.”
“Today, we informed our Russian colleagues of the difficult decision to terminate our franchise agreement and cease publishing in the market,” he said, adding that Russia’s new censorship laws have made Condé Nast’s work “untenable.”
The publishing giant claims that the combined reach of its seven publications in Russia — including Vogue, GQ, Glamour and Architectural Digest — was more than 21 million people.
“While we’ve had a successful business in Russia for over 20 years, the continued atrocities brought on by this unprovoked war and the related censorship laws have made it impossible for us to continue operating there,” Lynch wrote in the memo.
Vogue Russia — the country’s most-read glossy fashion magazine with more than 800,000 readers — is not the only high-end fashion publication to leave the country.
On March 9, a day after Condé Nast announced it would suspend operations, Hearst Magazines — which owns Elle, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan — said it was terminating its licensing agreements for all of its Russian publications.
Fashion houses and luxury brands, including Balenciaga and Hermès have also temporarily paused commercial activities in the country.
Earlier this month, French luxury house Chanel announced restrictions of sales of luxury goods to Russian customers, asking them to confirm that their residence is outside Russia.
