In the 1910s, when Primorsky Krai was still known as South Ussuri Krai and was part of the Amur Governor-Generalship, local residents already knew about an unusual spring of mineral water, popularly known as "Kisly Klyuch" ("Sour Spring"). It was discovered by ginseng hunters, who were intrigued by the water’s unusual taste, rich in iron and carbon dioxide.

From 1913, the mineral-rich spring water was actively used to treat various ailments. Despite the spring’s remote location and the almost complete lack of roads, people would travel for several days to collect its healing water. At the time, the spring itself was little more than an ordinary well.

At the height of the First World War, large numbers of wounded soldiers were being brought back from the front. After receiving the analysis results, Lev Orlov wrote to the Amur Governor-General:

Soon afterwards, a field military sanatorium was established near the spring. The medicinal water was transported once a day in a wooden barrel on a horse-drawn cart to treat wounded soldiers.

The name "Lastochka" became established in 1916. Swallows had always nested in the area, and Lev Orlov founded the "Lastochka" Ussuri Mineral Springs Partnership with the aim of producing water under the same name. Soon, the railway station and the settlement around it would also be named "Lastochka". Bottled water was shipped to Vladivostok and Khabarovsk and, remarkably, was already being exported at that time—to China and Japan.

After the Revolution and the foreign intervention, the spring remained abandoned for many years. Water production resumed only in 1933, when the new Soviet authorities established the "Lastochka" production cooperative. The pre-revolutionary well was replaced by drilled wells, and the water became fully artesian—drawn from deep underground.

In the late 1930s, the state began paying close attention to the famous Far Eastern mineral spring. The Central Institute of Balneology conducted extensive studies of "Lastochka" and its properties, and work began on a master plan for a new plant. At the same time, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR established Pozharsky District, where the spring is located. The district adopted a soaring swallow as its symbol.

But plans for the rapid construction of a new plant were not to be fulfilled—the war intervened once again. As during the First World War, a health resort was established near the spring, where "Lastochka" water was used to help wounded soldiers recover from the front. After the war, the water was effectively used to treat stomach and kidney disorders, and the sanatorium remained in operation until the 1980s. Later, "Lastochka" water came to be used for therapeutic purposes at almost all of Primorsky Krai’s health resorts.

A new plant was built in 1965. Subsequently modernized several times, by the 1980s it was bottling 15 million bottles a year. "Lastochka" water had become one of the symbols of Primorsky Krai and was exported in large quantities under the Swallow brand—a name that means both "swallow" and "a sip".

The 1990s were difficult for the plant, as they were for many other enterprises, and eventually led to bankruptcy. For two years, from 1995 to 1996, "Lastochka" disappeared from store shelves, much to the surprise of people across the Russian Far East who had grown accustomed to the water.

In 1998, a new team led by Yuri Kuznetsov took over the plant, restarting water production and introducing modern market-oriented approaches. The traditional glass bottles that had been popular in the Soviet era were replaced with more cost-effective PET bottles, while the plant’s equipment was completely modernized. Distribution expanded and water exports resumed to Japan, China, Korea and even the United States.

In the 2000s, the product range expanded significantly. Alongside the classic “Lastochka”, the lower-mineralization siliceous “Lastochka 201” was introduced, as well as the table water “Aktiva” (renamed “Akty” after a rebranding) and a range of soft drinks.