Ukrainian Canadians are frustrated after finding merch items with the logo of a Russian-affiliated private military group up for sale on the Walmart Canada Marketplace website.
Iryna Chabanenko, a Ukrainian immigrant living in Winnipeg, came across the listings for a Wagner Group-branded flag and t-shirt from a post in a Facebook group for Ukrainian Canadians in that city. Many in the comments under the post were complaining about the fact these items were up for sale on a website associated with a major Canadian retailer, Chabanenko recounted to the Star.
“I saw this post and I was confused and frustrated about it all,” she said.
”(The Wagner Group) just attack my country and they kill like my people,” Chabanenko continued. “It’s not right to invite to Canada Ukrainian people and to sell flags of terrorist organization.”
The Wagner Group has been linked with mercenary action in Ukraine and Africa. The group’s founder and former leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, also had longtime ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin before Prigozhin led a short-lived rebellion against the Russian leader in June 2023.
Prigozhin died a couple months later in what many considered a suspicious plane crash.
Canada has issued sanctions against members of the Wagner Group for their actions in Ukraine and Mali, but have not designated the group as a terrorist organization as other countries in Europe have.
The Star independently verified that the flag and shirt were on the Walmart Canada Marketplace website earlier this week. The flag was listed as “Out of Stock,” and had a five-star review dated September 2023. Meanwhile, the t-shirt was listed for just under $30.
Both of the items were sold through separate third-party sellers who appeared to have more than 1,000 other products on the Marketplace website, from bed sheets to clothing items to glow-in-the-dark dice.
“We sincerely apologize to our customers and those impacted by this,” a Walmart Canada spokesperson said in an emailed statement to the Star Thursday.
“These items were sold by a third-party seller on our marketplace website and they strongly contradict our values at Walmart Canada.”
The spokesperson said Walmart started taking the product listings down “as soon as we were made aware of this issue” and that it was reviewing the third-party seller who listed the items originally.
As of mid-day Friday, the posting for the flag had been taken down but the t-shirt was still up for sale. A Walmart spokesperson told the Star around 4:30 p.m. Friday that the shirt had also been taken down.
Chabanenko told the Star earlier she was glad the flag was not up for sale anymore, and hoped Walmart would take the shirt down as well.
“I just want to see some reaction about this because it’s terrible,” she said.
