{"id":206665,"date":"2026-10-08T14:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/206665\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T14:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:58:16","slug":"belarusian-company-owned-by-lithuanian-sold-ikea-like-furniture-to-russia-bic-says","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/206665\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarusian company owned by Lithuanian tycoon sold IKEA-like furniture to Russia, BIC says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (Novus Industry's website)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October 8, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Belarusian furniture maker Novus Industry, formerly an IKEA contractor, supplied Russia with more than $30 million worth of furniture strikingly similar to the Swedish retailer\u2019s models between March 2023 and May 2025, according to a fresh report<\/a> by the Belarusian Investigative Center (BIC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Novus Industry\u2019s products closely resemble IKEA\u2019s, a similarity acknowledged by the Belarusian company\u2019s own sales staff in conversations with undercover reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Novus Industry was one of IKEA\u2019s contract manufacturers until the Swedish giant withdrew from Belarus and Russia in the summer of 2022 following Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main buyer of the furniture flagged by BIC investigators was Swedsta, which operates the Good Lakk furniture chain in Russia. Ivieta By\u010dkova, a citizen of Belarus who previously worked at VMG Industry, renamed as Novus Industry in March 2023, owns one-third in Swedsta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VMG Group, a Lithuanian company that became IKEA\u2019s largest supplier in 2019, founded VMG Industry in Mahilo\u016d in 2009 and remained linked to it long after announcing the suspension of operations in Belarus. Until the fall of 2026, the company was owned almost fully by VMG Group\u2019s founder, Lithuanian business tycoon Sigitas Paulauskas, through Dutch and Cypriot holding companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although VMG Group publicly distanced itself from Belarus after February 2022, its companies continued trading with Novus Industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, Eurovesta, VMG Group\u2019s Lithuanian partner at that time, supplied \u20ac1.86 million worth of products to the Belarusian manufacturer in 2023 and 2024 and received goods totaling \u20ac475,000 from it in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another company owned by VMG Group, Klaip\u0117dos mediena, provided furniture components worth \u20ac154,000 to Novus Industry. VMG Group told the BIC that those deals involved timber, components, and fittings and not IKEA\u2011related products. Eurovesta was later sold, though Paulauskas remains its beneficiary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After IKEA withdrew from Belarus and Russia, Novus Industry\u2019s proceeds fell nearly threefold, from 387.4 million rubels in 2021 to 143 million rubels in 2025, the report said. Russia became its key market, accounting for roughly a quarter of the proceeds in 2023 and a third in 2024. Office Life reported that 70 percent of the manufacturer\u2019s output went to Russia in 2024. Novus Industry also obtained registration for its subsidiary, Novus Trading, in Russia\u2019s Smolensk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BIC says that Novus Industry\u2019s furniture was sold beyond Russia as well, including to Georgia\u2019s breakaway province of Abkhazia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. At least one shipment went to Poland after the EU banned Belarusian furniture imports in July 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IKEA told the BIC that Novus Industry “no longer has the right to use any IKEA trademarks, designs, technical drawings, specifications, production methods, tooling, or other materials.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the Swedish retailer noted that it cannot “comment on individual cases or situations” and insisted that it had already conducted an investigation into links between Novus Industry and VMG Group and found no violations of regulations, sanctions, or IKEA’s code of conduct for suppliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BIC carried out its investigation jointly with Lithuania\u2019s 15min.lt, Georgia\u2019s Monitori.ge and Swedish TV4\u2019s Kalla Fakta, with support from Belarusian groups Rabo\u010dy Ruch and Cyberpartisans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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IKEA on Belarus prison labor: We never accept human rights violations<\/h3>\n
November 18, BPN. IKEA has told BPN that it takes the recent reports on Belarus seriously, and never accepts human rights violations in its business. \u201cWhile present in Belarus, we carried out regular audits in combination with the mapping of …<\/div>\n \n