In total, there were 25 companies cooperating with Russia within the ranks of LTRK's 2,700 members, which recently came under scrutiny for the fact from media.
Some companies have since announced that they will belatedly stop cooperation, while with others, negotiations are still ongoing.
However, the organization will no longer cooperate with ten companies – though they have not been specifically named by LTRK.
"Anything that can help Russia to continue the war in any way is a problem," stated Jānis Endziņš, chairman of the LTRK. "Consequently, the position of we, the LTRK, was to call on the government to do everything to cut off economic ties with Russia as soon as possible, and of course we also call on our own members to do the same."
The excluded companies all exported to Russia. The remaining 15 companies all import from Russia and currently are still LTRK members. The Ministry of Economics has said that there are legal obstacles to identifying them, which are currently trying to be solved.
The LTRK decided in April to exclude from its membership those companies that continue to export to the aggressor country Russia, including including several in the pharmaceutical field, as well as service providers – for example lessors of warehousing.
With their exclusion, companies will lose both extensive information about export opportunities and regular trips to foreign countries in search of new customers and cooperation partners. However, it is worth noting that while their actions is dealing with Russia may be described by many as unethical or immoral, they are not illegal – areas such as pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs are not currently subject to any international sanctions.
