Russian Models Are Shredding Chanel Bags On Instagram & Accusing The Brand Of 'Russophobia'
"No bag, nothing is worth my love for my motherland."
Victoria Bonya. Right: Katya Guseva
Several high-profile Russian influencers are destroying their pricey Chanel handbags and posting the videos online after the company pulled out of Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.
And from the sounds of it, it's not about the money; it's about sending a message.
Model Victoria Bonya, actor Marina Ermoshkina and DJ Katya Guseva have all posted videos of themselves shredding the handbags this week in what they say is a protest against "Russophobia."
Chanel has joined hundreds of brands in punishing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine by pulling its products out of the country. It has also reportedly stopped selling goods to Russian customers abroad if their intent is to take those goods home.
In Ermoshkina's video, she claims that when Russians try to buy a Chanel bag, they have to sign a "humiliating paper" confirming that they will "never wear items of this brand in Russia."
"No bag, nothing is worth my love for my motherland, is worth my respect for myself," she wrote in Russian in the caption, with a Russian flag and heart emojis.
DJ Katya Guseva said she was inspired by Ermoshkina's post, so she decided to film herself doing the same thing. She added that it had always been a dream of hers to have a Chanel bag in her wardrobe.
"After I learned about this brand's policy against Russians, I made a decision to remove these bags from my everyday life," she wrote in the caption, according to an automatic translation.
Russian model Victoria Bonya, who is currently based in Italy, also joined the trend with a bag-shredding video of her own.
"I have to say, Chanel House does not respect their clients. Why do we have to respect Chanel House?" she said to her more than 9 million Instagram followers in the video, before tearing into a Chanel bag with a pair of shears and throwing it away.
Chanel says its policy is simply in compliance with European Union sanctions against Russia.
"We have rolled out a process to ask clients for whom we do not know the main residency to confirm that the items they are purchasing will not be used in Russia," Chanel said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press.
Russia banned its citizens from accessing Instagram last month, although citizens can still get online through VPNs or if they're outside of the country.
More than 1,600 Ukrainian civilians have been confirmed dead and 4.3 million have been forced to flee the country since Russia launched its invasion of the country on February 24, according to the United Nations.
