Russia demands bakery association be declared ‘extremist’ over Ukrainian army donations

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has demanded that a baking association consisting of three bakeries, only one of which is based in Russia, be declared “extremist” and banned nationwide, state-affiliated business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday.

According to Kommersant, the prosecutor’s office recently told a court in central Russia’s Ivanovo region that Latvian citizen Normunds Bomis and Ukrainian national Tetyana Prikhodko are “conducting extremist activities” against Russia’s “state interests” via three bakeries that they partly own — including the Ivanovo-based Riga Bread.

Bomis is accused of using funds earned from “the production of bakery products” to fund Ukraine’s Azov Brigade, and of advertising on one of his bakery’s websites for “residents of the EU to participate in fundraising to support Ukraine’s armed forces”, while Prikhodko is accused of publishing information that “discredits” the Russian government and army.

According to Kommersant, Bomis also opened a social centre to rehabilitate Ukrainian veterans at one of his bakeries’ headquarters in Limbazi, northern Latvia.

As a result, Kommersant says, the prosecutor’s office has requested that Bomis’s 50% share of Riga Bread be confiscated and converted into Russian revenue. The remaining 50% of the company — valued at 1.5 billion rubles (€15 million) — is currently owned by Russian citizen Sergey Sirenko.

According to Meduza, an independent Russian news outlet, Bomis co-founded Riga Bread with Sirenko in 2007, but became estranged from his former associate, who now permanently resides in Russia, following the outbreak of full-scale war in Ukraine.

“Sergey and I were like brothers until Russia invaded Ukraine”, Bomis previously told Delfi, a Latvian news site. According to Bomis, he and Sirenko began fundraising efforts for Ukrainian and Russian soldiers, respectively, and became embroiled in legal disputes over each other’s ownership claims.

In February 2024, Bomis confirmed to Latvian news site Kompromat.lv that he was still a co-owner of Riga Bread, but said he’d had “no contact with the company since the invasion began”, adding that he was already banned from entering Russia.