The complete shutdown of the MERE retail chain, operating under the Russian discount brand Svetofor, and the closure of its stores in Latvia has exposed what the Latvian Traders Association (LTA) describes as a politically negligent system of double standards within the Latvian government.
MERE’s parent company, Svetofor, is currently one of the five largest grocery retail chains in Russia, operating thousands of stores and holding a dominant position in the hard-discount retail segment. According to the LTA, the government’s inaction effectively provided legal cover for a branch of a Russian business empire that was continuously channeling financial resources into the tax system of the aggressor state.
While Poland and several other neighboring countries legally shut down MERE operations as early as 2025, Latvian ministries spent months shifting responsibility between institutions and refrained from imposing national economic sanctions. As a result, MERE ceased operating in Latvia only after sanctions were adopted at the European Union level.
The LTA had previously requested an official explanation from the Latvian government regarding MERE’s operations in Latvia.
In its official response, the Ministry of Economics stated that “the sanctions framework does not provide for a general prohibition on cooperation with Russian companies.” Rather than making a substantive decision, the ministry forwarded the LTA’s request to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). In turn, the FIU replied that, under Latvia’s Law on International and National Sanctions, it serves as the competent authority only for the implementation of international and national sanctions. According to the LTA, this resulted in a bureaucratic deadlock:
the Ministry of Economics referred the matter to the FIU, the FIU pointed to its limited implementation role,
while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs limited itself to issuing moral recommendations, stating that it “does not recommend establishing trade relations.”
“The Latvian government has demonstrated hypocrisy and double standards. State institutions acted with exceptional speed and severity when directing administrative and punitive measures against cultural figures and works of art. However, in the economic sphere—where real money is involved—the government cowardly avoided imposing national sanctions, effectively supporting an unfair competitor to Latvia’s domestic retail chains. While officials exchanged letters between institutions, MERE continued operating and expanding in Latvia until it was ultimately forced to close due to action taken by the European Union, not by Latvian authorities,” said Henriks Danusēvičs, President of the Latvian Traders Association.
The LTA also stressed that the closure of MERE stores will not reduce the availability of low-cost products for Latvian consumers. Former MERE retail locations are already being taken over by other retailers seeking to offer similar pricing strategies. Furthermore, affordable products from Ukraine are already widely available in nearly all domestic retail chains, with the exception of Lidl and Rimi. According to the association, the lower prices previously offered by MERE were primarily the result of Svetofor’s enormous market power and global-scale agreements with major suppliers, which artificially suppressed prices in the Latvian market.
The association further noted that MERE’s management failed to uphold the principles of corporate social responsibility. According to the LTA, the company did not engage with industry associations on retail-related issues, and its sole interest in Latvia appeared to be securing premises for the expansion of new stores.
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