The Kursk district court arrested the former Russian assets of the Global Spirits holding, which before the war in Ukraine produced Khortytsya, Morosha and Pervak vodka. RBC writes about this.
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In particular, the court seized the Feodosia cognac and wine factory, “Crimean wine house”, distilleries “Russian Sever” in Vologda and “Rodnik and K” in Mytishchi near Moscow, as well as distributors “Traditions of Success”, “Quality Standard” and “New Level”.
The Prosecutor General's Office is acting as the claimant in the case. Prior to this, a criminal case was opened in Russia against the founder of Global Spirits, Evgeny Chernyak, for financing terrorism. According to the investigation, Chernyak and “other persons” transferred more than 500 million rubles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and also purchased goods for combat operations for more than 90 million rubles. The Ministry of Internal Affairs put Chernyak on the wanted list, and Rosfinmonitoring included him in the register of persons involved in terrorism and extremism.
The criminal case against Chernyak arose as a result of another investigation – about a bribe, which, according to the investigation, was given by entrepreneur Alexander Bespalov, who bought Russian factories from Chernyak in 2022.
The value of Global Spirits’ Russian assets is no less than 15 billion rubles In April 2022, Global Spirits' assets changed hands. At the same time, Kommersant’s sources on the alcohol market believed that the deal was formal in nature and the assets would remain under the control of Chernyak. The Ukrainian businessman himself denied that he owns any enterprises in Russia.
Global Spirits previously reported that after February 2022, the holding revoked its license to produce alcoholic beverages on the Russian and Belarusian markets. The company considers the use of the holding brands on the territory of Russia to be unlawful and challenged it in the court of Cyprus.
Before the start of the war in Ukraine, Khortytsya was the leader of the Russian vodka market with a share of 5.3%, second place was occupied by Morosha with 4.4%, and third – “Belenkaya” with 4%.
