Exclusive - How EU firms skirt sanctions to do business in Crimea

Customers shop at an Auchan hypermarket store in Simferopol, Crimea, July 4, 2016. REUTERS/Anton Zverev

SIMFEROPOL, Crimea/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Products for sale in the Crimean stores of two European retailers are being shipped there from Russia via a ferry and port that are subject to EU sanctions, people involved in the transportation said, suggesting companies are finding ways around the punitive economic regime facing Moscow since 2014.

Products carrying the brands of Germany's Metro AG and Auchan [AUCH.UL] of France are visibly for sale on the shelves of the retailers' Crimean subsidiaries.