Court freezes 50% of Riga Bread LLC due to unfriendly foreign entities
On 16 July, Rodniki District Court of Ivanovo Region froze 50% of the capital of Riga Bread LLC as an interim measure under a lawsuit brought by the Prosecutor General's Office. This was reported by the joint press service of the region's courts of general jurisdiction, Interfax news agency reports.
The Prosecutor General's Office is demanding that the Bakers' Association, which controls half the shares of Riga Bread LLC, be declared extremist and that 50% of its shares be transferred to the state.
The Bakers' Association members include Latvian national Normunds Bomis and Ukrainian national Tatyana Prikhodko, who own the Latvian company SIA Lielezers, the Ukrainian companies Riga Khlib and Khlibnyi Gurman, and the Riga-based Ziedot.lv foundation.
Bomis is the founder and beneficiary of the Lielezers retail chain, and the parent company of SIA Lielezers Group is registered in Limbaži, Latvia. The holding company has subsidiaries in Ukraine, and in Russia it owns Riga Bread in Ivanovo region. Riga Bread, headquartered in the town of Rodniki in Ivanovo Region, was founded by Bomis and Russian national Sergei Sirenko in 2006.
The Prosecutor General's Office argues that the Bakers' Association supports the Ukrainian armed forces and channels part of its profits through the Latvian foundation to finance the Azov unit, which is held to be a terrorist organisation and is banned in Russia. According to the Office, more than $36,800 was transferred for these purposes in 2023-2025 to the Riga-based Ziedot.lv foundation, which collects donations to purchase weapons and ammunition for the nationalist unit. Thus, the Prosecutor General's Office notes, the defendants violated Russian laws prohibiting the sponsorship of extremist activities.
The Prosecutor General's Office also points out that Bomis places advertisements on the Lielezers website calling on EU residents to participate in fundraising to support Ukrainian armed formations, and Prikhodko, in social networks on behalf of the brands Khlibnyi Gurman and Riga Khlib, publishes information discrediting the Russian authorities and Russian armed forces and "heroises" the actions of members of Ukrainian terrorist groups.
The Prosecutor General's Office stated that Riga Bread LLC, which is registered in Ivanovo Region, and in which Bomis holds a 50 per cent stake, is a source of income that is used to form the financial base of the extremist association.
According to its 2024 financial results, Riga Bread's revenue totalled over RUB 1.5 billion, while its net profit amounted to almost RUB 160 million.