Lida brewery’s Finnish owner agrees to pay multi-million fine

April 21, BPN. Lidskaje Piva, a brewery based in Lida, Hrodna region, will pay a fine of 35.8 million rubels (about $12.2 million) to Belarusian authorities, says a report by Olvi Group, the brewery’s Finnish owner.

The Belarusian State Control Committee fined the brewery in February. Olvi Group filed an appeal with a local court expecting the proceedings to last for months.

Olvi Group acquired a stake in the Lida brewery in 2009. In March 2022, it announced that it would withdraw from Belarus and suspend investments in Belarus over Russia’s war on Ukraine. However, a few months later, it had to reconsider this decision as Belarusian authorities banned foreign holders from selling their shares in Belarusian businesses.

Lidskaje Piva is one of the oldest Belarusian breweries employing some 840 people.