Media has used data from Russian-controlled media RIA Novosti for 2022 and 2023 as a source of information, a ten-month cut. They indicate that the largest beer supplier to Russia last year was Germany, followed by Lithuania and Latvia.
Pēteris Liniņš emphasized that this is obvious fake news prepared by Russia.
“It can be seen from this text that there are no specific facts or specific producers mentioned there, and therefore I think that this is yet another way in which Russia attempts to discredit the Latvian economy, in this case, the Latvian producer, by targeting a whole sector with completely unfounded allegations, without any evidence.[..] I do not know of any companies that export to Russia from Latvia right now, from producers directly. I cannot imagine which Latvian producer would continue cooperation [with Russia] after all this,” Liniņš said.
The Latvian Federation of Food Enterprises also does not have such data, said Ināra Šure, chairwoman of the Council, stressing that this indicates the false nature of the information.
“I think it's misinformation. I looked at those articles, first of all, it's illogical -- exports as such. Beer is not an export industry because logistics are very expensive for it and also, in principle, heavy, and it is also not beneficial, so knowing our companies, this information indicates that it is absolutely wrong.”
Also last November, news emerged from the Russian media that most of the whisky imported into Russia was imported from Latvia. Although Latvia has not suddenly become a major supplier of whisky production, it is true that Western companies use Latvia as an intermediate stage to continue exporting alcoholic beverages to Russia.
