NEWARK, N.J.—Following the invasion of Ukraine, lawmakers in New Jersey’s largest city lashed out at one of the closest symbols of Russia they could find—a pair of Lukoil gas stations.
The Newark City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to ask the city’s business administrator to suspend the service stations’ operating licenses, citing Lukoil’s base in Moscow.
In doing so, however, they may have predominantly been hurting Americans.
The stations are franchises owned by locals, not Russians. They employ mostly New Jersey residents. And the gasoline sold at the stations comes from a local Phillips 66 refinery.
The campaign targeting the gas stations is one example of collateral damage from the backlash against Russia, as government officials and customers race to show their support for Ukraine by boycotting products and companies—or things they perceive to be Russian.
Roger Verma, a New Jersey resident who immigrated from India 45 years ago, has owned the franchise for one of the Lukoil stations in Newark since 2005. He said the decision to yank his license left him baffled and concerned that he could be put out of business, which would affect his 16 employees.
“Let me be clear that I stand with Ukraine and I’m fully in support of Russian sanctions,” Verma said Wednesday in front of Newark’s City Hall. “But I’m baffled and confused how people sitting in these positions without having any of their facts together and without having full knowledge of how things are done can introduce and change laws and change people’s lives just like that.”
In some places, people have been pouring out Smirnoff vodka, not realizing that the beverage is owned by an English company and the bottles consumed in the U.S. are distilled in Illinois.
A phone message couldn’t be left at a listing for Lukoil Americas Corp. in New York.
In a statement posted on its website Thursday, Lukoil’s board of directors expressed “its deepest concerns about the tragic events in Ukraine” and called for “the soonest termination of the armed conflict.”
It wasn’t immediately clear Thursday when the Newark stations’ licenses would be revoked, or if the city administrator might halt the suspension.
Under a typical Lukoil franchise agreement, the company acts as the station’s landlord. The station pays rent, taxes, and utilities to the company and also agrees to buy a certain amount of fuel each month.
Sal Risalvato, executive director of New Jersey Gasoline, Convenience Store and Automotive Association, called the crackdown on the stations “nothing more than political theater.”
Council Member Anibal Ramos, who introduced the resolution, said the license suspension in Newark is meant to be temporary and his office had received calls from employers offering to give jobs to any affected gas station workers.
