To my Allies and LGBTQ+ comrades boycotting Russian Vodka: Just Stop.

I know that we all mean well when we collectively decided not to buy any more Vodka from Russian companies because of the decision of their President Vladimir Putin to actively endanger his own citizens because of their status (or allyship to) as sexual minorities.

But I suggest that you do not let this dictator's actions sway you to damage the economic integrity of long corporate allies to the LGBTQ+ community. Allies like the hard hit Stolichnaya Vodka (also known as Stoli) have had a long history of supporting Lesbian and Gay movements in the United States and abroad with campaigns such as Be Real: Stories from Queer America which explores the intersectionality of gender identity. Stoli CEO Val Mendeleev recently sent a letter to the American magazine The Advocate (whose audience is predominantly wealthy white gay men) reading as follows: 

Luxembourg, July 25, 2013
An Open Letter from the CEO of Stolichnaya Vodka to the LGBT community.
The recent dreadful actions taken by the Russian Government limiting the rights of the LGBT community and the passionate reaction of the community have prompted me to write this letter to you.
I want to stress that Stoli firmly opposes such attitude and actions. Indeed, as a company that encourages transparency and fairness, we are upset and angry. Stolichnaya Vodka has always been, and continues to be a fervent supporter and friend to the LGBT community. We also thank the community for having adopted Stoli as their vodka of preference.
In the US, the brand’s commitment to the LGBT community has been ongoing for years. Among the best examples, I can cite the series produced by Stoli in 2006 called “Be Real: Stories from Queer America” which featured short documentaries on real life stories depicting the challenges and accomplishments of the LGBT community in the United States (http://www.logotv.com/shows/dyn/be_real_series/series.jhtml)
Stoli is very proud of its current exclusive national partnership with Gaycities.com and Queerty.com in search of the Most Original Stoli Guy. This is a fantastic program that started as a local initiative in Colorado and became a national platform. Previous national initiatives included serving as the official vodka of the Miami Gay Pride Week as well as ongoing events with focus on Pride month.
Some great examples from other parts of the world are the support to the Durban Gay Pride, in South Africa (http://www.durbanpride.org), the Pride Parade in Vienna, in cooperation with HOSI and CT, the largest LGBT communities in Austria and the Tel Aviv Pride Parade, taking place this weekend.
This letter also gives me the opportunity to clear some of the confusion surrounding the Stolichnaya brand, based on facts found online that often inaccurately link our company to the Russian Government. The Russian government has no ownership interest or control over the Stoli brand that is privately owned by SPI Group, headquartered in Luxembourg in the heart of Western Europe.
Stoli’s production process involves both Russia and Latvia. Stoli is made from Russian ingredients (wheat, rye and raw alcohol) blended with pure artesian well water at our historic distillery and bottling facility Latvijas Balzams (www.lb.lv) in Riga, Latvia (formerly part of the Russian Empire and then of the Soviet Union). Latvijas Balzams did not recently become part of the Stoli heritage, but has been one of its main production and bottling facilities since 1948. This has allowed the brand to deliver the outstanding quality it is recognized for consistently across the years. What changed in the last years is politics, with Latvia becoming an independent state part of the EU.
We fully support and endorse your objectives to fight against prejudice in Russia. In the past decade, SPI has been actively advocating in favor of freedom, tolerance and openness in society, standing very passionately on the side of the LGBT community and will continue to support any effective initiative in that direction.
Sincerely yours
Val Mendeleev
Chief Executive Officer
SPI Group

which details the work the company has done for the American LGBTQ+ community in the past. It additionally attempts to highlight the company's corporate independence (as far as that can go nowadays) from Russia. However the company's subsidiary SPI Group is owned by Russian businessman Yury Shefler who won rights to continue privately produce vodka against re-nationalization attempts in 1999 by russian president Putin (details later in the article). SPI group is a Swiss based company with a board headed by predominantly American [USA] folks.

While receiving criticism from gay activist Dan Savage (known for his frequent outing of closeted youth during his talks and his trans*phobia) for lack of action in Russia, Stoli has made historical attempts at distancing itself from Russia since the 1999 nationalization attempts. However what Dan Savage [unsurprisingly] and others missed is that Vodka is not Russia's chief export.

According to the United States Government, the global market and the media Russia's largest export and money maker is - you guessed it - petroleum products! After petroleum products come natural gas, metals, wood and wood products, and then a whole list of chemicals that become a whole lot of other things. Last on the list is civilian based companies that do not make above products. Thus boycotting them is not going to do a whole lot of good. What will occur is that these companies (many of which are allies) will become easier and easier for a hostile government to buy. Once bought, say farewell to nifty LGBTQ+ awareness campaigns (even if they were only in the United States.

"But what should you do," you ask?

Well based on this data you should start contacting petroleum companies and inform them that you plan on boycotting their products as long as they continue to buy from Russian producers. Or, better yet, encourage companies to become green energy providers by buying credits, investing in them, or directing and electing representatives that support green energy initiatives. Contact paper product producers and inform them that you plan on boycotting Russian wood products and tell them that they should find other suppliers if they do not want to be hit hard. Buy local  to make sure that none of your capital goes to the Russian government. Follow Russian LGBTQ+ activist Nikolia Alekseev's advice and put Russian politicians on the visa ban list - effectively erasing their international sway. And perhaps hardest: stop putting Russian politicians in a place where they feel like they can act masculine, such as the Snowden incident, by reforming national laws that protect nationals so they do not need to seek protection overseas.