AliExpress temporarily excludes Crimea from list of shipping destinations

Chinese online retail giant AliExpress left the disputed territory of Crimea off its updated online order form, frustrating residents of the Black Sea peninsula, the local Crimean news agency Krym Media reported Friday. Initial reports of the order form change suggested that AliExpress, part of China’s largest e-commerce company, Alibaba Group, was complying with Western sanctions that bar companies from working in Crimea.

The new form required customers to specify a region of Russia for delivery, but the list of shipping destinations did not include Crimea or its major coastal city of Sevastopol, both of which were annexed by Russia in March of last year, provoking sanctions from the West.