Yasha Haddazhi, the CEO of Nintendo of Russia, has reportedly recently set up a second company within Nintendo's Russian headquarters to sell imported Nintendo games.

　　At least, that is what's being reported by Russian outlet Kommersant, and picked up by various outlets, including Eurogamer. Nintendo suspended shipments to Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. In addition, the company shut down its eShop in the region. "We have decided to suspend shipping all Nintendo products to Russia for the foreseeable future", Nintendo's said last year. "In addition, Nintendo eShop in Russia is currently under maintenance following the suspension of transactions in Russian rubles by the payment provider." Rival companies, including Sony and Microsoft, did the same last year.

　　From the looks of it, however, Haddazhi has now found a way to bring Nintendo products to Russian retailers through a freshly-founded import company called "Achivka". According to the Russian report, Haddazhi is the majority owner of the company with Nintendo Russia's corporate events manager, Ksenia Kachalova, being mentioned as a minority owner. "Achivka" was set up in December 2022, and interestingly, has the same statuary address as the headquarters of Nintendo of Russia. "The Nintendo Switch On profile Telegram channel has published a photo of a box with the Metroid Prime Remastered game and information about the supplier - Achivka LLC.", the Russian report reads (google-translated) "This company is headed by the current CEO of Nintendo's video game division in Russia (Nintendo Ru LLC) Yasha Haddazhi."

　　Both Kommersant and Eurogamer have reached out to Nintendo regarding this matter. Nintendo has not responded to the request from the Russian outlet. Whether Nintendo is aware of its games now being imported and sold in Russia is unknown, but according to business analyst at Marvel Distribution, Anton Fomi, Haddazhi's "Achivka" can only exist with the approval of Nintendo's head office. Meanwhile, Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners' lawyer Aram Grigoryan has said reportedly said that the import company was created without the approval of Nintendo.

　　“We are talking about a company of Russian management, probably Nintendo will not grant it any rights", the lawyer has allegedly said.

　　We'll update you as soon as more information about this matter comes in. What are your thoughts about this? Has Nintendo resumed sales in Russia or has this company been created without the approval of Nintendo? Or, is there a possibility that Nintendo is indirectly involved in this business construction in order to bypass the official sales ban in Russia? Hit the comments down below and discuss. As always, however, keep it civil and play nice.