The hypocrisy of Carnevali and Mapei towards Russia

Why did Sassuolo send Spartak Moscow’s offer for Rogerio (€8m) to sender? The answer most online newspapers have given is the simplest: it would be ethical question. Obviously abusive, vague terminology whose breadth of meaning helps, and not least the rhetoric about the Russian “enemy” that is so fashionable these days. But here we need at least one specification. At first, Italian newspapers relied (almost exclusively) on this carnival statements, CEO of Sassuolo, to justify this kind of reading. The latter said, in fact: “The negotiations were conducted by his lawyer (di Rogerio, ed.), there was a very important proposal of 8 million euros and, taking into account all the circumstances, we decided not to proceed as owners and management.” Ethical reasons: We didn’t want to deal with the Russians“.

However, according to Vinicius Prattes, Rogerio’s lawyer (which expires in 2024 and will not be renewed with the Neroverdi), the version of events it sounds noticeably different:

“Negotiations started two weeks ago. After we reached an agreement with Spartak Moscow, after two weeks the Mapei group informed us that they would not agree to negotiations with the Russians. They had to warn immediately: it was one disrespect“.

In fact, those who are used to having a pen in their right hand and a knife in their left fill their mouths with ethics, morals and good manners. However, this is not the case with Mapei or Sassuolo, which have always been very consistent in terms of their operations and market decisions. So we are dealing with a rejection on both sides, which is certainly related to ethical reasons – even if, according to Rogerio’s prosecutor, economic reasons cannot be ruled out. The point is obviously different.

Some time ago we talked about the “ethical” consistency of Sassuolo, on and off the field (the black-green propaganda is full of it, just look at the social networks), who refused the money for Rogerio because, like many other Italian companies, they decided not to have any further economic relations with Russia after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. But we are sure As a matter of fact Mapei has Really cut ties with Russia? There is no news on this. Neither online, nor in newspapers, nor in the “News” section of the official website of the company that owns Sassuolo.

Worse still: Driven by journalistic curiosity, we searched for “ifs”. between international offices Mapei was still present in Russia. There is not just one: there are as many as five (5) branches still active in the country led by Vladimir Putin. For us, once again, the problem is not in the fact, but in the declarations and intentions, better still in their presentation with great pomp. It may be true that Mapei doesn’t want to have relations with Russia, but then how to explain the strong roots of the same company (which also has a presence in Ukraine) on Russian soil? As we wait for Mapei to change this section of its website—assuming it forgot: it would be just as serious—we laugh at the umpteenth manifestation of Western hypocrisy.