The Kyiv-based Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea opened a criminal investigation against Booking.com, an online accommodation booking website based in Amsterdam.
The investigation was opened after a member of the Verkhovna Rada Heorhiy Lohvynsky filed a complaint about the popular website offering accommodation in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula that was invaded and annexed by Russia in 2014.
Lohvynsky demands that the authorities block the access to the website in Ukraine and force Booking.com to repay wrongful earnings. He accused the company of violating international sanctions as well as Ukrainian and international laws by booking hotels in Crimea.
“Not only does (Booking.com) facilitate the illegal entrance of foreigners to the occupied territory, it actively cooperates with lawless authorities, actively advertises and sells accommodation in Crimean hotels and health resorts stolen from Ukraine,” Lohvynsky wrote in a Facebook post.
The lawmaker said that when Booking.com was booking accommodation in Crimean hotels it was basically trading stolen property.
“It is as if a car renting service was knowingly renting out rare cars that were stolen from a Dutch museum,” Lohvynsky wrote.
Reacting to the criticism, Booking.com said they adjusted the website so that one can book an accommodation in Crimea only when they’re not traveling for leisure. The website only shows properties in Crimea when the customer ticks “yes” when asked, “Are you traveling for work?”
The website, however, has no way of verifying whether the customer is really traveling for work.
Leslie Cafferty, a spokeswoman for Priceline Group, the U.S.-based company that operates Booking.com, said that while doing business with Crimea properties is not prohibited, the website adjusted the search for Crimea “to avoid any misunderstanding regarding Booking.com’s position.”
At the moment Booking.com offers deals with nearly 2,000 properties in Crimea, including hotels, hostels, resorts, and guest houses.
Since the United States prohibited doing business with Crimea in the wake of sanctions over Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014, some U.S.-headquartered companies like Expedia and Airbnb, which offer booking travel components like flights or accommodation rentals, stopped booking in Crimea.
Several major digital companies have limited access to its services in Crimea, too. For instance, the users in Crimea can’t access App Store, Google Play Market, and Google’s advertising services. Instagram and Facebook have reportedly shut its paid functions in Crimea.
