This investigation was prepared jointly with Siena /OCCRP
There are few genuine imported beers on the shelves of Russian supermarkets. One of the few is produced by the Lithuanian company Volfas Engelman. This company from Kaunas is part of the Finnish group Olvi. After a full-scale invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine, Olvi promised to suspend the export of products to Russia. A year later, The Insider checked: Volfas is still on the shelves in Moscow and other regions.
In April 2023, Volfas beer produced in November 2022 was sold in stores in the capital. That is, already 8 months after Olvi's promise to leave Russia.
Lithuanian beer is supplied to Pyaterochka by LSV Trade LLC. Initially, its founder was a Lithuanian citizen Linas Mockunas, then control of the company was transferred to Russian Dmitry Kononenko. But LSV Trade is not the only importer of Volfas. According to ImportGenius data, after February last year, Lithuanian beer was also imported to Russia by Pintaclab, Interbeer, Rusbeer 2006, Sommelier, MTM-Service and Lukat-Pekarni. LLC "Pintaclab" acts as a supplier of alcohol for FKP "Ash". This enterprise is under the control of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation. According to the auction documentation, he buys SVR and Volfas beer.
Pintaclab has been supplying scouts with beer since 2016. The last two agreements were signed after Olvi promised to stop cooperation with Russia: on April 22, 2022 and on February 19, 2023. And in both cases, Volfas products were in the list of supplied goods.
The federal state-owned enterprise "Yasen" is named after the Moscow district of Yasenevo, where the headquarters of the Foreign Intelligence Service is located. This is one of the economic units of the scouts. It is engaged in the sale of old property through bidding and the purchase, in addition to alcohol, products: meat, tea, cakes, etc.
“Volfas Engelman does not export its products to Russia,” the Lithuanian company assures, and they attribute the situation to the parallel import process. “Beer is not a sanctioned product, freely circulates on the market, and can be resold without the knowledge of the manufacturer.”
If earlier Volfas Engelman beer was supplied to Russia directly, now intermediaries are really used, including firms from Lithuania: Lukritma UAB and Laudare UAB. But it is noteworthy that the counterparties from the Russian side have remained the same. Everything seems to be that an extra chain in the supply chain appeared only in order to minimize the political risks of the manufacturer.
In total, from the end of February until August 30, 2022, 8,475 tons of Volfas products were delivered to Russia from Lithuania. Or about 7 million liters of beer. It turns out that Russia receives more than a million liters of Lithuanian beer a month.
Volfas Engelman claims to have begun placing outlines of a map of Ukraine (together with Crimea) on beer cans as a “preventive measure” for the Russian market. True, The Insider has not yet been able to find products with such symbols in Moscow stores.
In addition to Lithuanian, Volfas beer is supplied to Russia by companies from other countries: Olvi Grupp A. Le Coq AS from Estonia, Moldovan Kappa Company, Latvian SIA Prodea New, Czech Redfood, Serbian Portwinestyle and BIKS TRADE. Some of these firms are owned by Russians: Prodea New's shareholder is Yuri Popov, and Portwinestyle is Valery Ipatov, who, in addition to Russian, also has Portuguese citizenship. Ipatov founded the Serbian company in April 2022 and immediately began supplying Lithuanian beer to Russia. All this may indicate the intentional introduction of an intermediary for "parallel exports".