Vičiūnai-Rus, a Sovetsk-based plant of Vičiūnai Group, a business group owned by the family of Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis, represented Russia’s food industry at a meeting with Cuban politicians in Moscow, LRT RADIO reports.
Rolanas Ozarinskas, the deputy managing director of the Vičiūnai-Rus plant, and Edgaras Pečiulis, the supply director, met with Cuban Food Industry Minister Manuel Sobrino and his representatives in Moscow in April 2023. The meeting was facilitated by the Cuban and Russian embassies.
The Lithuanian Vičiūnai-Rus executives were reportedly introduced to Sobrino as the pride of the Russian food industry.
Sobrino later told Cuban television that he and his counterparts in Russia have agreed that they have one common enemy – the West, the sanctions of which are harming the people of both countries. Therefore, the food trade between Cuba and Russia is expected to reduce the damage caused by sanctions.
The threat assessment report, published by Lithuanian intelligence on March 7, mentions a company owned by Lithuanian investors in Russia, whose representatives discussed investments in Cuba during a meeting with the Cuban minister in Moscow.
The report did not name the company in question but published a photo of the meeting. LRT RADIO found out that Lithuanian intelligence took the photo from a Cuban TV report on the minister’s visit to Moscow.
The photo shows Ozarinskas and Pečiulis seated by the table with Russian and Cuban flags. Both are Lithuanian citizens.
The Lithuanian authorities have condemned the company’s move and vow to block Vičiūnai Group from partaking in public procurement tenders.
Vičiūnai Group’s management has refused to comment on the meeting as they say they do not want to jeopardise the process of selling the company in Russia. Kaunas Mayor Matijošaitis, meanwhile, said he did not know about the meeting in Moscow.
In January, Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) added Vičiūnai Group to the list of international war sponsors because of its continued operations in Russia.
Vičiūnai Group, one of the largest manufacturers of fish products in Europe, announced that it would leave the Russian market and close its factory in Kaliningrad after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but has not done so yet.
Matijošaitis has repeatedly said that the company is gradually withdrawing from the Russian market and is looking for a buyer for its factory in Kaliningrad’s Sovetsk.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
