Feeding the aggressor: Corruption Prevention Agency adds food manufacturer Vici to list of international sponsors of war

Global manufacturer and supplier of various food products under the brand Vici, Lithuanian company Viciunai Group has been added to the list of international sponsors of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Source: National Agency on Corruption Prevention of Ukraine (NACP) which created this list

Quote: "After the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the representatives of the Viciunai Group promised that the company would leave the Russian market but Vici still has not stopped its production in Russia, is looking for new employees and pays significant taxes into the budget of the aggressor."

Details: Reportedly, back in March 2022 the head of the Lithuanian group, Sharunas Matioshaitis, claimed that the company would leave the Russian market in 3-4 months.

Instead, Viciunai is still doing business in Russia as usual without any staff cuts, successfully protecting the Russian trademark in court, continuing hiring staff to its affiliates and thus supporting the labour market in Russia.

For instance, Vichunai-Rus Ltd is the largest company of the Viciunai Group, it has 1,500 employees. It is located in Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia, and its net profit increased by 156% (up to US$20 million) in 2022.

BaltCo Ltd, an affiliate of Viciunai, is an official representative of the company in Russia. It provides services of transporting the products of fish culinary, fish processing, surimi and sea products. Its net profit in 2022 was US$2.5 million.

"While such brands as Vici are in the Russian market, despite all the war crimes of the Russians, the world keeps getting a wrong signal that Russia remains a part of international economic processes. Likewise, Russians see that the democratic world has not turned its back on them, so [to them it looks like – ed.] they are doing everything right," Oleksandr Novikov, Head of the NACP, explained.

Background: The company is a global manufacturer and supplier of various food products.

Specifically, Viciunai Group is the largest processor of surimi in the world and one of the largest and most economically powerful manufacturers of sea products in Europe. Its main office is located in Lithuania, and its plants operate in Lithuania, Spain, Estonia and Russia.

NACP is a body responsible for the development of the compliance system in the private sector. During the compliance procedures, counteragents are subject to inspection for honesty, including for adhering to the norms of socially responsible entrepreneurial activity in accordance with the OECP standards.

The International Sponsors of War list on the War&Sanctions portal is a powerful reputational tool for achieving transparency in supply chains on the international arena and exit of international businesses from Russia, and therefore for decreasing financial and technological capacity of the terrorist state to kill Ukrainians.

One of the pressure leverages of the platform is cooperation with the World-Check database, which is being used by banks and insurance companies for risk assessment. This is why the consequences of being on the list for global companies are worse than continuing to do business with the aggressor state.

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