Last week, Vičiūnų Grupė (Vičiūnai Group), one of Lithuania’s largest food production groups, owned by Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis, announced the suspension of its operations in Russia. But according to information gathered by LRT, production continues at the group’s factory in Sovetsk, Kaliningrad region.
On March 7, Vičiūnai Group announced in a press release that it was suspending its activities in Russia.
“Last week, Vičiūnai Group’s executives backed plans to focus on our business and production in Europe and suspend operations in Russia,” the group's CEO Šarūnas Matijošaitis was quoted in the company’s statement.
Read more: Kaunas mayor-owned Vičiūnai Group suspends production in Russia
But on Monday, a week after the announcement, a journalist and public figure Andrius Tapinas said on Facebook that, according to sources in Sovetsk, Vičiūnai Group‘s plant is still operational there.
“The factory is working at full capacity […]. The workers say that Russia needs so much food that the backlog today is 100 trucks, so they have to go and make money in Russia,” Tapinas said.
“The hope is probably to quietly stretch out this time, and then, things will quiet down, and it will be business as usual for the Matijošaitis family,” he added.
According to information gathered by LRT, the work at the Vičiūnai Group plant in the Kaliningrad region has not stopped, and its production volumes are not decreasing. This has been confirmed by several Russian citizens, who work as drivers at the company’s branch in Sovetsk.
“Everything works the way it used to. Nothing has stopped, the goods are moving, and all lines are working. There was one line that stopped, but that was because there were no raw materials. Everything else is working,” said Kiril, one of the drivers, whose real name was changed.
According to him, Vičiūnai production from Sovetsk goes to Belarus and “all of Russia”.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the drivers asked the transport manager at Vičiūnai Group if they were planning to stop the trucks for a while.
“And we were told: “What stoppage? 84 trucks this year, we cannot get 160 tonnes out, so we work as fast as we can,” Kiril said.
Vasily (not his real name), another Vičiūnai driver in Sovetsk, also confirmed that the factory’s work continues.
“Everything is fine, there are no changes,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dmitry (not his real name) said there is no talk of possible changes inside the plant.
“There is no negativity, no talk, no standing still, no change. Your compatriots have been running the business and making decisions and continue to do so. We don’t see any change, and there is no change planned,” said Dmitry, Vičiūnai driver in Kaliningrad.
But according to the fourth driver Sergey, the production is now being moved out of “packed warehouses”, and then, everything should stop.
Vičiūnai Group did not reply to the LRT questions as to whether production is continuing at the company’s factory in Sovetsk. The comment sent on Monday is the same as the one circulated a week ago.
The company and its owner, Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis, have attracted criticism for not suspending its activities in Russia immediately after it invaded Ukraine on February 24.
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