Russian based cheese producer Viola appoints new CEO

MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - Cheese producer Viola, previously Valio, a subsidiary of Finland's Valio before it left the Russian market, has appointed a new CEO.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE), Anton Lilenko has been the company's CEO since March 1, before which Alexei Gavrisin had occupied the post since August 2025. From the same date, Gavrisin has been CEO of the Pavlovskaya Sloboda meat plant, owned by Raisa Demina, who also owns the company Denir. Denir also owns Viola.

Lilenko also headed Viola in 2023 as the acting CEO.

As reported, Finnish dairy concern Valio sold its business in Russia to meat products manufacturer Velkom Group in 2022. The deal included a plant for the production of processed and semi-hard cheese in the Moscow region and the rights to the Viola processed cheese brand. The company changed its name from Valio LLC to Viola LLC in October 2022. The company also rebranded the Valio and Oltermanni cheeses as Viola and Laplandia, respectively.

Viola acquired a dairy production plant in the Belgorod region from EFKO Group following the change in ownership.

Denir LLC, which Velkom Group beneficiary Raisa Demina controls, has owned Viola LLC since December 2022.