Russia to feed its troops using company seized from US
Russia is planning to feed its troops with food from a seized American company, in a move that threatens to spoil Moscow's improving relations with Washington.
Glavprodukt, a major producer of canned meat and vegetables, was brought under Kremlin control in October as the only US company in Vladimir Putin's hands.
The seizure was ordered to ensure stable production and future supplies to the Russian military, a letter from the company's new Russian management to the prosecutor general's office has revealed.
First reported by Reuters, the document states that Glavprodukt's produce would be sent to the Russian ministry of defence as well as the national guard, a militarised force that reports directly to Putin.
The company is not believed to have produced food for the Russian military while it was under US control.
It comes after Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, hinted last month that Glavprodukt's seizure would be discussed during negotiations aimed at normalising US-Russia relations.
'There are opportunities to work together, and obviously that's going to entail talking about not just Russian assets that have been seized by the Europeans or the US or what have you, but also American companies that have been hurt,' he said in an interview with the Right-wing Breitbart News Network.
Following the seizure in October, the company's assets were confiscated on March 12 following a court order from the prosecutor general's office.
Russian prosecutors accused Leonid Smirnov, Glavprodukt's American owner who fled the Soviet Union in the 1970s, of moving 1.38 billion roubles (£12.8 million) out of Russia from 2022 to 2024.
Mr Smirnov described the accusations as a ' Russian-style corporate raid ' and denies any wrongdoing.
The letter seen by Reuters confirmed that Glavprodukt's new Russian director was named at the request of a company called Druzhba Narodov, which formerly supplied food to the national guard.
'Save my company'
Mr Smirnov has urged Donald Trump to help save his $200 million (£151 million) business, which is regarded as the Russian equivalent of Heinz.
'We basically have this company being destroyed on a daily basis,' he told the New York Post.
'I am asking president Trump to get involved and save my company, save all other American companies.'
The Moscow-based company, which employs 1,000 people across three factories, began making losses for the first time in its history after it was seized.
Mr Smirnov estimates that it has lost around 30 per cent of its value since it was taken over by the Kremlin.
Roughly a dozen companies have been placed under 'temporary management' by Russia over the past three years, but these have mostly been European.
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