Nintendo responds to reports its Russian CEO set up a shell company to get around sales ban

Nintendo has issued a statement following reports claiming the CEO of its Russian branch had set up a shell company to get around the company's Russia sales ban.

A report from Russian political and business outlet Kommersant alleges Yasha Haddaji, who heads up Nintendo Russia, recently set up another business called Achivka to import Nintendo products and sell them to Russian consumers against official Nintendo policy. 

The report includes an image of what appears to be a copy of Metroid Prime Remastered, a game released after Nintendo's early 2022 ban on Russian sales, sold by Achivka in Russia. The alleged shadow branch was reportedly founded by Haddaji in December 2022, with a Nintendo Russia corporate events manager, Ksenia Kachalova, listed as a minority owner.

While it isn't illegal for a company to import products to Russia, there have been concerns about Nintendo's potential involvement with Achivka. Not only is the company reportedly run by Haddaji, but its listed address is also the same as Nintendo's Russian headquarters.

Nintendo has since responded to those claims in a detailed statement to Eurogamer, and in doing so, confirmed that it is in talks with Achivka to assist in the winding down of its Russian operations. Though, according to the Nintendo spokesperson, Achivka is just one "potential supplier" of "repair and warranty service for Nintendo products that had already been sold in the Russian market" - nothing to do with importing and selling software. 

Nintendo also said it's "aware that several companies in Russia operate parallel imports of goods, including Nintendo products," but clarified that it's "not affiliated with such companies and has no involvement in parallel import activities in Russia."

We reached out to Nintendo for further clarification but did not receive a response in time for publication. We'll update this article if we hear back.