Ivanovo Region governor Stanislav Voskresensky visits one of Riga Bread's production facilities. Photo: Dmitry Ryzhakov / Ivanovo Regional Government
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has asked the Rodnikovsky District Court in the Ivanovo Region to recognize a group of bread producers as an extremist organization, the Kremlin-compliant business newspaper Kommersant reported Tuesday. The group includes Latvian and Ukrainian citizens Normunds Bomis and Tatyana Prikhodko, as well as their associated companies: Latvia’s SIA Lielezers, Ukraine’s TOV “Rizʹkyy khlib” (Ukrainian for “Riga Bread”) and TOV “Khlibnyy Gurman” (“Bread Connoisseur”), and the Riga-based charity fund Ziedot.lv. The prosecution is also demanding the confiscation of 50% of the shares in the group’s Russian subsidiary “Rizhsky Khleb” (Russian for “Riga Bread”). The Russian assets in question are estimated at 1.5 billion rubles (around $16.5 million).
Russian authorities also claim that Ziedot.lv has raised more than €30 million in support of Ukraine’s military and that it organized protest events outside the Russian embassy in Latvia, displaying anti-Kremlin posters and leaflets. Prikhodko, the prosecutor’s office says, used social media accounts tied to her Ukrainian companies to publish content “discrediting” the Russian military and state authorities while “glorifying” the AFU. Bomis also reportedly established a rehabilitation center for Ukrainian soldiers at one of the bakery’s production sites in Latvia.
Founded in 2006, Rizhsky Khleb operates in Russia and is highly profitable. With assets of 700 million rubles ($8.95 million), the company generates 1.5 billion rubles ($19.18 million) in annual revenue and 630 million rubles ($8.05 million) in gross profit, according to prosecutors. They argue the business is a financial vehicle for what they label an “extremist group” that is engaged in “justifying terrorist activity” and providing funds to support “activity against the state interests of the Russian Federation.” The group's members, the prosecutors claim, are using their wealth to undermine Russia while being guided by “extremist ideology.”
As a result, the Prosecutor General’s Office has asked the court to outlaw the group and transfer 50% of Bomis’s stake in Rizhsky Khleb to the Russian state.
In a similar move in early June, Moscow’s Tagansky District Court labeled Viktor Kislyi, founder of the video game company Wargaming, and Malik Khatazhaev, the head of Lesta Games, as members of an “extremist” organization. Wargaming is best known for its military-themed titles World of Tanks, World of Warships, and World of Warplanes. The company relocated its headquarters from Minsk, Belarus, to Nicosia, Cyprus, in 2011.
Lesta Games operates the Russian versions of Wargaming’s international titles, and the two companies were legally separated in order to shield one another from potential prosecution. In October 2023, Wargaming launched a charity fundraiser to support Ukraine, donating over $1 million raised through the sale of in-game bundles to purchase ambulances, while Lesta Games distanced itself from the campaign.
At the time of the June 2025 ruling, the court noted that its decision did not apply to the companies themselves, their partners, or players, adding that Kislyi and Khatazhaev no longer had rights to the Lesta group of companies.
