Russia Accused of Creating Clone Firms of Chinese Brands

(KYIV, UKRAINE) – Russian businesses are creating clone companies of Chinese brands, feeding off their success and blocking genuine firms from entering the market, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

The intelligence body said in a statement that Chinese brands are steadily winning over the Russian market, but local business is displaying what it described as total bad faith in the best Russian traditions, feeding off that success. While the Kremlin speaks of a strategic partnership with Beijing, Russian entrepreneurs do not hesitate to steal the intellectual property of their partners by setting up copycat websites and keeping real brands out of the market.

The intelligence service pointed to large scale legal piracy in Russia against one of the biggest Chinese online marketplaces, Poizon, which is operated by Shanghai Dewu Information. A Russian clone company called LLC Poizon was set up in 2022. It not only took the name of the well known marketplace but also copied the design of the original Chinese site in full, reselling goods under the stolen identity.

By feeding off the foreign name, the Russian company grew its revenue 24 times over in 2025, reaching 860 million roubles. At current exchange rates, that figure equals roughly 9.5 million US dollars or about 7.5 million British pounds. The intelligence report added that the Russian fraudsters were first to register the trademarks in their own name with the Russian patent office, Rospatent, which meant the genuine Chinese owners were unable to defend their rights for a long period.

The Chinese side is now fighting for its name through the courts and is seeking a fine. Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service said the case proves that in Russia, even those officially called friends are stolen from. Such bold behaviour, the service noted, is forcing global companies to act early. Brands are now registering their trademarks in Russia not for the purpose of trading at all, but purely as a protective measure. They do so to stop local operators from feeding off famous names, setting up fake shops and making millions on someone else’s reputation, as happened in the Poizon case.

The intelligence service previously reported that one in five new online businesses in Russia in 2025 was set up by Chinese entrepreneurs, including companies where the founder or general director is a Chinese citizen.