A negative publicity campaign targeted against BALTMAN chain store broke out in Yekaterinburg, with the city’s streets full of ads that call for boycotting the place. The statements used in these ads are outright nationalist and xenophobic (some examples include phrases like ‘Shop in BALTMAN and help our enemies,’ or ‘BALTMAN go back to the Baltic States’). Moreover, the ads bear images of Adolph Hitler as well as swastikas and other nationalist symbols.

In addition, Sverdlovsk Region’s media received a letter from The Bronze Soldier, a non-existent NGO. In it, the organization accuses Baltika Group of financing ‘the fascist forces’ in the Baltic States, supporting the ‘anti-Russian regime’, and demands that all the city dwellers boycott the shops. Similar statements have already appeared online before.

In the meantime, experts are pretty sure that there is a person or business behind the whole campaign that is unhappy with the BALTMAN’s ways and therefore splashed out on some negative publicity. Coincidentally, Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration is now processing the lawsuit involving RIMPEX (the owner of the stores) and Andrei Gavrilovskiy, a local entrepreneur and the proprietor of Antey Business Center. According to RIMPEX, the case concerns the promise Mr. Gavrilovskiy made to let RIMPEX buy some offices in the second section of the business center if the company financed the project that he did not keep. This could have been the reason why Mr. Gavrilovskiy was faced with a criminal suit and accusations of fraud (case А60-9070/06-С1, handled by Oktyabrskiy Court of Yekaterinburg).

Apart from that, the regional tax crime department was unofficially reported to have filed a criminal suit against Les Forum (Mr. Gavrilovskiy’s company), charging it with large-scale tax evasion.