Armenia’s Spayka denies wrongdoing in Moscow case, shifts exports to Europe

Armenian agricultural company Spayka has rejected allegations in a Russian criminal case involving Spayka-Rus, its importer of Armenian fruit and vegetable products into Russia, while redirecting its exports toward Eastern European markets.

Spayka top executive Karen Baghdasaryan said the case, which was opened in 2019 over alleged financial fraud and tax evasion, had no grounds and that the court would demonstrate the baselessness of the accusations.

Baghdasaryan also said the company had completely suspended exports of Armenian products to Russia due to the restrictions imposed by Moscow. Spayka is now working to diversify its foreign markets, with a particular focus on Eastern Europe.

According to Baghdasaryan, during the current summer-autumn season, export volumes to the new markets have become almost comparable to the volumes previously shipped to Russia.

A court hearing in Moscow began on September 15 in the case against Spayka director Davit Ghazaryan.

The Russian media outlet Kommersant reported that Ghazaryan, the head of one of the largest freight-forwarding companies and the founder of Spayka-Rus, which imported fruit and vegetable products into Russia, became a defendant in a criminal case in 2019 over alleged tax evasion on an especially large scale, foreign-exchange transactions using forged documents and the legalisation of criminal proceeds.

According to investigators, the businessmen allegedly transferred around 44 billion rubles ($528 million) out of Russia under contracts for the supply of fruit and vegetables to the country. Between 2015 and 2018, when the deliveries were reportedly made, only about 2% of the value specified in the contracts was actually accounted for by fruit and vegetable imports into Russia.

By Jeyhun Aghazada