内容摘要：About 260 trafficked scam-centre workers were recently rescued in a cross-border operation between Thailand and Myanmar. Yet, even in rare instances such as this when trafficked workers are freed, they still face complications due to their visa status and their own potential complicity in criminal activity.

About 260 trafficked scam-centre workers were recently rescued in a cross-border operation between Thailand and Myanmar. Yet, even in rare instances such as this when trafficked workers are freed, they still face complications due to their visa status and their own potential complicity in criminal activity.

In an analysis published in December, researchers at the Kyiv School of Economics found that customs data showed the “robust efforts” of many companies to “maintain their commitments and ethical standards”, and that companies that announced their complete exit from Russia had significantly reduced direct shipments of goods to the country.However, in some cases, a brand’s exit appears to have been largely ceremonial.

While L’Occitane no longer directly supplies its Russian partners, the French brand continues to be imported to Russia in significant quantities.L’Occitane’s former Russian subsidiary now belongs to local management. But the subsidiary has pledged shares to L’Occitane International as collateral and L’Occitane International has a call-option to buy the subsidiary back during a five-year period starting in June 2025.L'Occitane's former subsidiary receives its cosmetics almost exclusively via one company, Smart Beauty LLC - a contrast from the typical scenario involving parallel imports, where numerous small suppliers are involved.

Smart Beauty LLC was registered in Dubai in June 2022 - the same month L’Occitane announced its exit from Russia - and has shipped more than 900 tonnes of cosmetics to Russia, according to customs data.Dubai’s business registry does not show the identity of Smart Beauty’s owner. L’Occitane did not reply to Al Jazeera’s questions about whether it was aware of the importation of its products by its former subsidiary.

Tracing the supply chains of goods from a factory where they are produced to the shelf in Russia can be challenging as importers may use numerous intermediary companies across multiple countries.

The owner of a Russian wholesale supplier of electronics who spoke on condition of anonymity told Al Jazeera that many front companies have been established in third countries specifically to organise parallel imports, sometimes by Russian importers and sometimes even by the brands themselves.CDU lawmaker Roderich Kiesewetter said in a post on Tuesday on X that Germany was “irrelevant” in the long-range missile conversation because it has refused to send Ukraine the Taurus and he saw no willingness to do that under the current coalition.

“Therefore, we should also avoid making contradictory statements on this matter. … I continue to see no unity in the coalition and no political will to act appropriately and with strength and consistency in response to Russia’s massive escalation. Such statements are therefore overall unhelpful because they highlight Europe’s weakness to Russia,” he wrote.Also on Tuesday, SPD head and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said at a news conference that there had been no policy change regarding delivering German weapons to Ukraine or the restrictions on their use.

Expert John Foreman, who is affiliated with the UK think tank Chatham House, said even if Germany sends the Taurus at this point, its effects might be more of a symbolic victory for Ukraine rather than a tactical one.A Taurus delivery would arrive “too late to change the overall trajectory of the war”, Foreman told Al Jazeera, adding that Germany would have to supply a significant number to make a difference.