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Scotch maker to bottle whisky in Russia
Scotch blender and bottler Campbell Meyer & Co has agreed to make bulk shipments of one of its whisky brands to be bottled in Russia.
The East Kilbride blender will make shipments of its budget Scotch brand Glendale to the country, despite the government urging companies to cut ties with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
Campbell Meyer & Co will ship enough whisky to fill 70,000 bottles a month starting by the end of the year, according to reports from Russian newspaper Vedomosti.
Scottish Labour MP Blair McDougall has called on Campbell Meyer & Co to drop its deal with the Russians. He said: “As we have just marked 1,000 days of brutality by Russia towards Ukraine, it is deeply disappointing that Scottish firms are still doing business with Putin’s Russia.”
“It is all the more galling to see Scotland’s national drink part of this. We should be clear: Russia is an enormous criminal enterprise run by a gangster class. It is simply not possible to take one part of the economy and separate it out from the war economy that is threatening Ukraine and the whole of Europe.”
“This company should think again whether their profit margin is worth the reputational damage of doing business in a pariah state.”
The blender and bottler is not a member of the Scotch Whisky Association.
In the years since fighting in Ukraine broke out, drinks firms have come under pressure to cease trading in the country. The beginning of the war led to massive suspension of drinks’ exports to Russia, primarily from Western countries and by such leading producers as Diageo, LVMH, Pernod Ricard.
Wine imports from the EU were at a 20-year low in 2024.
However, Russian drinkers are increasingly active. The first 10 months of 2024 have seen record sales of alcohol among Russian consumers, according to calculations made by the local alcohol regulator, with wine and vodka driving retail sales.
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