Beauty firm L'Occitane keeps Russian stores open

The French beauty brand L'Occitane says it will keep its shops in Russia open despite the invasion of Ukraine.

The firm told the BBC it had discussed closing its stores at length but said it had not because it wanted to protect staff from potential retaliation.

It has stopped shipping to Russia but website sales still seem to be open.

Hundreds of international brands including L'Oreal and Estee Lauder have already closed shops and ceased online sales in Russia in protest at the war.

Some customers criticised L'Occitane for its decision and called for a boycott of the brand which is sold at more than 3,085 retail outlets worldwide and had sales of 1.5bn (1.3bn) last year.

The cosmetics firm, which has spas and stores in Russian cities including Moscow and St Petersburg, said it could not take the risk of closing its shops.

At this point we cannot guarantee that our 700 employees in Russia will not face retaliation if we cease to operate in the country, a spokeswoman told the BBC.

We are particularly concerned for those of our employees who have relatives in Ukraine or who are of Ukrainian descent, she added.