Bananas with May 9 greetings sold in Maxima

RIGA - The Maxima grocery store at Brivabas Street 310, has been selling bananas with May 9 Victory Day greeting stickers.

The small sticker has a greeting written in Russian, as well as a picture of the hammer and sickle. "Maxima Latvija" press secretary Ivars Andins said that these bananas were clearly meant for the Russian market, and it wasn't previously known that a portion would end up in Latvia.

"If it is not our merchandise, it is also not our doing if the provider wishes to greet people- Easter, orthodox Christmas and so on. The thing that worries us is that this merchandise was not meant to go to us and not meant for our buyers," explained Andins.

The bananas, imported from Ecuador, surprised even the Maxima store manager who has since made it clear that the store is not interested in such "commercial materials" in the future.

Despite the fact that the Victory day celebrations of May 9 occurred a month ago,  Andins expressed certainty that the bananas are not past their expiration date, but were in a European storage facility to ripen when the stickers were applied.

"Latbana Baltic" imported the bananas which were purchased from Polish firm CITMA. The bananas were imported from these firms as there were no other options, explained Harijs Ilisko head of "Latbana Baltic".