“So, it is a very, very easy thing,” he said.

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.“Front companies established by brands would hardly speak to a new player whom they don’t know or answer an email inquiry,” he said.

“But the relationships between brands and retailers have been developed through years. It’s very tempting to use proxies and continue business.”Western brands that have distanced themselves from Russia can be broadly categorised into three groups, said Mikhail Burmistrov, the director of the Russian think tank Infoline Analytics.

“There are those who left and actively try to prevent parallel imports,” Burmistrov told Al Jazeera.

Burmistrov said he is aware of Western companies that have threatened to blacklist Russian partners over their use of parallel imports, although he declined to name any firms.Meanwhile, Pakistan’s media leaned on the moral weight of sovereignty. India’s strikes were framed as an assault not just on land, but on izzat, honour. By invoking sacred spaces, by publicising civilian casualties, Pakistan constructed India not as a counterterrorist actor but as a bully and a blasphemer.

This discursive tug-of-war extended even to facts. When India claimed to have killed 80 militants, Pakistan called it fiction. When Pakistan claimed to have shot down Indian jets, India called it propaganda. Each accused the other of misinformation. Each media ecosystem became a hall of mirrors, reflecting only what it wanted to see.Ceasefire, silence and a call to listen differently

The guns fell silent on May 13, thanks to a US-brokered ceasefire. Both governments claimed victory. Media outlets moved on. Cricket resumed. Hashtags faded.But what lingers is the story each side now tells about itself: We were right. They were wrong. We showed strength. They backed down.