The Russian manufacturer of the 90,000 bottles of vodka in the port of Rotterdam are intercepted, is shocked about the news that the cargo of liquor destined for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The wodkafabrikant says no idea that the drink was on its way to Kim Jong-un and his military command in Pyongyang, such as the Dutch customs authorities suspect. “My company provides vodka all over the world, including in South Korea,” says Timofei Urban from manufacturer Niva against the Russian newspaper The Moscow Times . “But never to North Korea,” he insists.
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The vodka of the trademark Stolbovaya belongs to the cheaper brands in Russia: it is located in the shelves for about 3.50 euros per half litre. The drink is produced in Saint-Petersburg. From which city is the vodka for Kim Jong-un a few weeks ago, shipped to Hamburg, after which it was loaded onto the Chinese freighter Nebula. That ship, explained Thursday night in Rotterdam, and the Dutch customs the container with 90,000 bottles took.
“The Chinese have this container a few weeks ago picked up in the port of Saint-Petersburg” confirms Urban. The order was made directly with the wodkafabrikant, by “a Chinese company”.
Manufacturer in compromise –
Wodkaproducent Niva is not without controversy in Russia. The two owners, last year, by the Russian judiciary suspected of ” illegal banking activities’. One of the owners is under house arrest, the other fled to Estonia. However, the activities of the company.
“It is in Russia that this kind of companies is taken over by the government or by a security service,” says reporter Pjotr Sauer of the The Moscow Times . “So, the company can be used for shady deals with North Korea. Or that in this case has happened, is unknown.”
