Counterstatement of Leica Camera AG of the Article „The Insider“ from May 18, 2023
Leica Camera AG firmly rejects the allegations mentioned in the article of "THE INSIDER" of 18 May 2023 regarding support for the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The statement that Leica Camera AG has continued to supply products for civil use to Russia despite the official announcement of an export stop is false. The last delivery of the products mentioned in the article to the Russian subsidiary took place at the end of February 2022 and thus indicates that shortly after the outbreak of the Russian war of aggression Leica Camera AG promptly implemented all relevant measures to obey the voluntary export ban. This also includes the closure of the Leica Store in Moscow and the decided implementation of the liquidation of the company Leica Russia at the end of 2022. Leica Camera AG has thus fully withdrawn from the Russian market, support of the Russian war of aggression is therefore purely factually impossible. Leica Camera AG has also at no time, as also mentioned in the article, circumvented any sanctions provisions.
Moreover, the products mentioned in the article are purely for civilian use in the field of application for hunters and sport shooters. In accordance with an updated resolution of the Board of Management in August 2022 all companies of Leica Camera AG are prohibited from bringing devices and applications for military use onto the market.
The projects for economic cooperation with Russian companies mentioned in the report took place in a phase before the Ukraine war and have been completed for some time. The nature of the cooperation has been purely related to the use of civilian applications in the field of photography.
The activities of Leica Geosystems AG mentioned in the article are in no way related to Leica Camera AG, as they are two legally separate and economically independent companies.
Leica Camera AG reserves the right to take possible legal action due to the dissemination of false statements.
Finally, it should be noted that the online platform "The Insider" does not provide any information about the specific author of the article, respectively there is no imprint.
徠卡相機——與攝影同行
徠卡相機公司是一家專業生產高端相機和運動光學產品的公司。徠卡經久不衰的優良品質、德國工藝、工業設計和不斷創新的科技，奠定了該公司的百年傳奇。作為品牌文化的重要組成部分，徠卡為促進攝影藝術的發展開展了豐富的活動。除了遍佈全球的徠卡畫廊和徠卡學院，徠卡還設立了“徠卡名人堂獎”和“徠卡奧斯卡·巴納克攝影獎”（LOBA），後者被認為是當今最具創新力的贊助獎項之一。徠卡相機公司總部位於德國黑森州的威茲勒，另一個生產基地位於葡萄牙法馬利康新鎮（Vila Nova deFamalicão），分支機搆和徠卡零售商店網路遍佈全球。