The Minister has also requested that the information be updated once per month.
The list was published on the official statistics portal but then pulled to make adjustments in the format. CSB said it would be published again later.
Ministry of Economics (EM) Deputy State Secretary Raimonds Lapiņš apologized for the confusion caused on Thursday, 17 August, in a press conference on behalf of EM and CSB, stating that data on companies that exported to Russia in 2022 had been published initially, even before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and thus data on January 2022 and the beginning of February were also included.
The list of companies published by the CSB is currently corrected and reflects the current data for 2023.
The Ministry of Economics (EM) had previously refused to publicly disclose the list of companies citing commercial confidentiality concerns. Meanwhile, CSB Chief Executive Aija Žīgure said that the data published by the CSB on companies exporting to Russia is not confidential and does not reflect the size of the activity.
Company names are listed alphabetically and listed regardless of the size of the transaction.
This information has been obtained from the State Revenue Service because, in order to export to Russia, the company must complete the customs declaration.
It should be stressed that inclusion on the list does not mean companies are breaking the law or breaking EU sanctions, which only apply in specific areas and cases. However, publication of the list comes after public pressure to allow consumers and other businesses to know with whom they are dealing – and with whom those companies in turn are dealing.
The public initiative portal “Manabalss.lv” started collecting signatures in favor of publishing a list of Latvian companies exporting to Russia in early August.
1,095 companies exported from Latvia to Russia in 2019 and only 307 in the first five months of 2023, which is a significant decrease. In May this year, the most exported goods from Latvia to Russia are:
- alcohol, food;
- chemicals, medicinal products;
- machinery, electrical equipment;
- textile products.
