Disios, like hundreds of other fur businesses in the lakeside city of Kastoria, was banned from exporting to Russia, the main market for Greece’s fur industry. With no domestic market, he sent his 23 workers home and his stockrooms filled up with hundreds of unsold garments.
With the demise of Denmark’s huge fur industry during a coronavirus-driven mink cull, animal rights groups hope the cut-off from the Russian market could spell the end of the European fur market, which has already shrunk drastically in response to animal welfare campaigns. CLOSED. A view inside the closed workshop of Christos Papadopoulos, in Kastoria, Greece, July 6, 2022. Photo by Alexandros Avramidis/Reuters, since the war began. But nowhere is it as stark as in Kastoria, which survived the country’s devastating, decade-long economic crisis thanks to its fur exports.
The sanctions also ban shops from selling to Russian tourists in Greece, because fur is considered a luxury good. During a visit to Kastoria in June, Akis Skertsos, a senior government minister, said the industry “will be supported – and we will do whatever we can for it to remain viable,” but acknowledged the need for a shift to other activities as well.