MOSCOW, August 19. /ITAR-TASS/. The Swedish retailer IKEA will stop selling salmon and cheese at its stores in Russia because of its “food sanctions” but the so-called Swedish meatballs and sausage will not disappear from the shelves, IKEA spokesperson Maria Tikhonova told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday.

At present, Norwegian frozen and smoked salmon, several kinds of semi-hard and stinky cheese are sold at Russia’s IKEA stores. They will have to stop selling their stock or expiry date comes to an end, she said.

“There will be no replacement because this is genuine Swedish cheese. And it would be senseless to replace Norwegian salmon because it is well-known Scandinavian brand in Russia,” Tikhonova said.

She said, however, that no embargo had been imposed on the so-called Swedish meatballs and sausages, which are made using Swedish technology and Russian or Brazilian ingredients, she said.

IKEA, founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, is a Swedish retail company specializing in furniture. IKEA has a total of 305 stores in 26 countries. In 2012-2013 IKEA’s profit increased by 3.1% and reached up to 3.3 billion euro. In 2013 IKEA sales in Russia increased by 18%.