Nintendo ceased selling products and wound down its operations in Russia last March, soon after the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces. Other notable games software and hardware companies also announced their withdrawal at a similar time. Microsoft/Xbox, Sony/PlayStation, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, CD Projekt, Sega, Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive are among a group that discontinued the sale and distribution of games products in Russian territory markets. Lawmakers within Russia have taken a fairly lax stance on the import of consumer and industrial goods - it is legal to do so, even minus a rightsholder's approval. It seems that a couple of Nintendo of Russia employees have taken advantage of loose import regulations in the past few months.

According to a news piece published online by Kommersant (a Russian politics and business newspaper) a relatively new operation registered under the company name "Achivka LLC" is involved in the sale and distribution of Nintendo games in Russian territories. Nintendo Russia CEO Yasha Haddaji is reported to be the leader and majority owner of Achivka LLC, and former corporate events manager Ksenia Kachalova is listed as being a minority stakeholder in the company. The operation's premises appear to match the exact address for Nintendo of Russia. The firm is involved in the importing (from an unknown source) and selling of Nintendo games - the Kommersant article includes photographic evidence - a physical copy of Metroid Prime Remastered is demonstrated as bearing an Achivka stick-on label. The English translation of the company name is Achievement, which is an appropriate word association in the world of high score driven computer games.

Update Apr 18th: Nintendo has confirmed that Yasha Haddazhi, CEO of the Russian Office, remains as a current employee of the international company - but only on a temporary basis. Nintendo continues to distance itself from Achivka LLC and the selling of rebadged products in Russian territories. See below for more details.Achivka has done enough in terms of (local) legal registrations to justify the sale of Nintendo Switch hardware in Russia, since its territory is bound within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Achivka has signed an EAC declaration, which is a document confirming that products have passed all set procedures of assessment, and conform to Customs Union requirements. Several western publications have attempted to contact Yasha Haddaji and other staff members at Achivka LLC, but no official point of contact or response has been made.


Eurogamer has managed to get a full statement from Nintendo of Europe, in regard to reports of Achivka's Nintendo-related operation in Russia: "In early 2022, Nintendo suspended shipping products to Russia, and placed Nintendo eShop under maintenance following the suspension of transactions in Russian rubles by the payment provider. Following this, and as a result of the economic outlook, Nintendo of Europe has decided to wind down operations of its Russian subsidiary. We will maintain a minimal presence in Russia to complete the wind-down process, and to fulfil legal, contractual and administrative requirements. Employees in Moscow received individual compensation packages, and their contracts ended by mutual agreement and with our appreciation for their efforts."

The Nintendo of Europe spokesperson elaborates further: "We continue to investigate solutions to honor preceding commitments to our customers in the Russian market. In this vein and a spirit of transparency, we are in advanced discussions with potential suppliers of repair and warranty service for Nintendo products that had already been sold in the Russian market, with LLC Achivka being one such potential supplier. We are aware that several companies in Russia operate parallel imports of goods, including Nintendo products. Nintendo is not affiliated with such companies and has no involvement in parallel import activities in Russia. In case our Russian customers have questions regarding our products or services, we continue to encourage them to contact Customer Support."

Update Apr 18th: Eurogamer has managed to extract another short statement from the Nintendo spokesperson (on April 14), this time regarding the employment status of the Russian office's leader: "Mr Haddaji remains in a temporary administrative capacity to fulfil various internal administrative functions while winding down the company."The circumstances appear to be very murky when analyzing Nintendo's official stance on the continued availability of its products in Russia. It is not clear whether Yasha Haddaji will remain as an official employee of Nintendo for much longer. His leadership of Nintendo's Moscow Office has been questioned in the past, following allegations of a "heavy-handed" management style. Physical copies of the Switch adventure shooter, Metroid Prime Remastered, have been in short supply since its launch in February of this year. As Russian Nintendo customers lack official means to access digital stores (namely the eShop), it has been theorised that Achivka might have procured a significant shipment of Metroid Prime Remastered boxed copies - leading to shortages and scalping in Europe and North America. It will be interesting to observe the upcoming launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - will any physical copies find their way into the region? Russian Zelda-series fans had unrestricted access to the preceding title - Breath of the Wild - during times of peace. Nintendo's semi-committed stance to its Russian fanbase stands in stark contrast to (as an example) Cisco's approach in the region - a strategy of total inventory obliteration was carried out last summer.