Latest news with #Rosimushchestvo
USA Today
17-04-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Exclusive: Moscow plans to use seized US-owned company to feed Russian army, document shows
Exclusive: Moscow plans to use seized US-owned company to feed Russian army, document shows LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Plans are afoot for an American-owned company seized by the Kremlin and placed under state control to be used to supply food to the Russian army, a document seen by Reuters showed, potentially threatening Moscow's warming relations with the U.S. As the U.S. and the Kremlin negotiate to stop the war in Ukraine, the canned food maker Glavprodukt which was seized in October and is the only American-owned firm to be taken under state control, has been caught in the crosshairs. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said its treatment will be part of the conversation about resetting U.S.-Russia relations. The seizure was necessary to ensure stable production, including for future supplies to the national guard and defence ministry, according to a letter, reviewed by Reuters, addressed to Russia's prosecutor general from Glavprodukt's new management. Glavprodukt is now under the control of Russia's federal property management agency Rosimushchestvo having been seized from Los Angeles-based Leonid Smirnov. Russia's industry and trade ministry and Rosimushchestvo did not respond to requests for comment on the state's plans for Glavprodukt and questions about its new management. More: 'Everybody's to blame': Trump accuses Zelenskyy of starting Russia's war on Ukraine Russian prosecutors have accused Smirnov and companies controlled by him of moving about 1.38 billion roubles ($17 million) out of Russia from 2022 to 2024, the RBC daily reported in March. On March 12, Glavprodukt's assets were seized by the Moscow Arbitration Court at the request of the prosecutor general's office. A hearing is scheduled for April 18. Smirnov denies wrongdoing and says the lawsuit is a "Russian-style corporate raid" to steal his company. The prosecutor general did not immediately respond to a request for comment. About a dozen European companies have had their Russian subsidiaries expropriated by presidential decree, including Danish brewer Carlsberg and Finnish utility Fortum and the Kremlin has warned of more asset seizures. The Ukraine invasion was expected to be a quick operation, but the war has now stretched to more than three years, seeing Russia hike defence spending and secure tighter control of strategic assets. In 2022, Russia was scrambling for military supplies, including food. WHO STANDS TO GAIN FROM SEIZURE? The letter reviewed by Reuters shines a light on the people standing to gain from the expropriation. It said that Rosimushchestvo appointed Glavprodukt's new director general at the request of food producer Druzhba Narodov. Druzhba Narodov was the sole supplier to Russia's national guard for 2019-20, according to a 2018 press release. A person familiar with the matter said that Glavprodukt never previously supplied Russia's army. A 2018 investigation by late opposition politician Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund revealed that then President Dmitry Medvedev had in 2017 signed off on Druzhba Narodov becoming the national guard's sole supplier. Ownership information for Druzhba Narodov is classified, but Russian newspaper Kommersant reported in 2022, citing then publicly available information on Russia's EGRUL corporate registry, that entities connected to agriculture holding 'Agrocomplex named after N. I. Tkachev' had acquired Druzhba Narodov. More: Kremlin says instant results not possible after Trump demands Ukraine progress Reuters could not independently verify that as the information is now classified, but the Agrocomplex holding referred to, and Druzhba Narodov, share the same domain name for some email addresses, according to their websites and filings from Russia's Spark corporate registry. Druzhba Narodov and Agrocomplex did not respond to requests for comment. The holding's ultimate owner is Alexander Tkachev, according to the company's 2025 independent audit filings, reviewed by Reuters. Tkachev, sanctioned by the European Union in 2014 for his support of Moscow's annexation of Crimea, was appointed Russia's agriculture minister the following year, and is the holding company's board chairman, the filings show. (Reporting by Anna Hirtenstein and Alexander Marrow in London;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Moscow plans to use seized US-owned company to feed Russian army, document shows
By Anna Hirtenstein and Alexander Marrow LONDON (Reuters) - Plans are afoot for an American-owned company seized by the Kremlin and placed under state control to be used to supply food to the Russian army, a document seen by Reuters showed, potentially threatening Moscow's warming relations with the U.S. As the U.S. and the Kremlin negotiate to stop the war in Ukraine, the canned food maker Glavprodukt which was seized in October and is the only American-owned firm to be taken under state control, has been caught in the crosshairs. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said its treatment will be part of the conversation about resetting U.S.-Russia relations. The seizure was necessary to ensure stable production, including for future supplies to the national guard and defence ministry, according to a letter, reviewed by Reuters, addressed to Russia's prosecutor general from Glavprodukt's new management. Glavprodukt is now under the control of Russia's federal property management agency Rosimushchestvo having been seized from Los Angeles-based Leonid Smirnov. Russia's industry and trade ministry and Rosimushchestvo did not respond to requests for comment on the state's plans for Glavprodukt and questions about its new management. Russian prosecutors have accused Smirnov and companies controlled by him of moving about 1.38 billion roubles ($17 million) out of Russia from 2022 to 2024, the RBC daily reported in March. On March 12, Glavprodukt's assets were seized by the Moscow Arbitration Court at the request of the prosecutor general's office. A hearing is scheduled for April 18. Smirnov denies wrongdoing and says the lawsuit is a "Russian-style corporate raid" to steal his company. The prosecutor general did not immediately respond to a request for comment. About a dozen European companies have had their Russian subsidiaries expropriated by presidential decree, including Danish brewer Carlsberg and Finnish utility Fortum and the Kremlin has warned of more asset seizures. The Ukraine invasion was expected to be a quick operation, but the war has now stretched to more than three years, seeing Russia hike defence spending and secure tighter control of strategic assets. In 2022, Russia was scrambling for military supplies, including food. WHO STANDS TO GAIN FROM SEIZURE? The letter reviewed by Reuters shines a light on the people standing to gain from the expropriation. It said that Rosimushchestvo appointed Glavprodukt's new director general at the request of food producer Druzhba Narodov. Druzhba Narodov was the sole supplier to Russia's national guard for 2019-20, according to a 2018 press release. A person familiar with the matter said that Glavprodukt never previously supplied Russia's army. A 2018 investigation by late opposition politician Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund revealed that then President Dmitry Medvedev had in 2017 signed off on Druzhba Narodov becoming the national guard's sole supplier. Ownership information for Druzhba Narodov is classified, but Russian newspaper Kommersant reported in 2022, citing then publicly available information on Russia's EGRUL corporate registry, that entities connected to agriculture holding 'Agrocomplex named after N. I. Tkachev' had acquired Druzhba Narodov. Reuters could not independently verify that as the information is now classified, but the Agrocomplex holding referred to, and Druzhba Narodov, share the same domain name for some email addresses, according to their websites and filings from Russia's Spark corporate registry. Druzhba Narodov and Agrocomplex did not respond to requests for comment. The holding's ultimate owner is Alexander Tkachev, according to the company's 2025 independent audit filings, reviewed by Reuters. Tkachev, sanctioned by the European Union in 2014 for his support of Moscow's annexation of Crimea, was appointed Russia's agriculture minister the following year, and is the holding company's board chairman, the filings show.
Reuters
17-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Exclusive: Moscow plans to use seized US-owned company to feed Russian army, document shows
Summary Moscow seized canned food company in October US says company's seizure will be part of talks with Russia Court hearing on company's fate due April 18 Letter reveals plans for company to supply army with food LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Plans are afoot for an American-owned company seized by the Kremlin and placed under state control to be used to supply food to the Russian army, a document seen by Reuters showed, potentially threatening Moscow's warming relations with the U.S. As the U.S. and the Kremlin negotiate to stop the war in Ukraine, the canned food maker Glavprodukt which was seized in October and is the only American-owned firm to be taken under state control, has been caught in the crosshairs. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said its treatment will be part of the conversation about resetting U.S.-Russia relations. The seizure was necessary to ensure stable production, including for future supplies to the national guard and defence ministry, according to a letter, reviewed by Reuters, addressed to Russia's prosecutor general from Glavprodukt's new management. Glavprodukt is now under the control of Russia's federal property management agency Rosimushchestvo having been seized from Los Angeles-based Leonid Smirnov. Russia's industry and trade ministry and Rosimushchestvo did not respond to requests for comment on the state's plans for Glavprodukt and questions about its new management. Russian prosecutors have accused Smirnov and companies controlled by him of moving about 1.38 billion roubles ($17 million) out of Russia from 2022 to 2024, the RBC daily reported in March. On March 12, Glavprodukt's assets were seized by the Moscow Arbitration Court at the request of the prosecutor general's office. A hearing is scheduled for April 18. Smirnov denies wrongdoing and says the lawsuit is a "Russian-style corporate raid" to steal his company. The prosecutor general did not immediately respond to a request for comment. About a dozen European companies have had their Russian subsidiaries expropriated by presidential decree, including Danish brewer Carlsberg and Finnish utility Fortum and the Kremlin has warned of more asset seizures. The Ukraine invasion was expected to be a quick operation, but the war has now stretched to more than three years, seeing Russia hike defence spending and secure tighter control of strategic assets. In 2022, Russia was scrambling for military supplies, including food. WHO STANDS TO GAIN FROM SEIZURE? The letter reviewed by Reuters shines a light on the people standing to gain from the expropriation. It said that Rosimushchestvo appointed Glavprodukt's new director general at the request of food producer Druzhba Narodov. Druzhba Narodov was the sole supplier to Russia's national guard for 2019-20, according to a 2018 press release. A person familiar with the matter said that Glavprodukt never previously supplied Russia's army. A 2018 investigation by late opposition politician Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund revealed that then President Dmitry Medvedev had in 2017 signed off on Druzhba Narodov becoming the national guard's sole supplier. Ownership information for Druzhba Narodov is classified, but Russian newspaper Kommersant reported in 2022, citing then publicly available information on Russia's EGRUL corporate registry, that entities connected to agriculture holding 'Agrocomplex named after N. I. Tkachev' had acquired Druzhba Narodov. Reuters could not independently verify that as the information is now classified, but the Agrocomplex holding referred to, and Druzhba Narodov, share the same domain name for some email addresses, according to their websites and filings from Russia's Spark corporate registry. Druzhba Narodov and Agrocomplex did not respond to requests for comment. The holding's ultimate owner is Alexander Tkachev, according to the company's 2025 independent audit filings, reviewed by Reuters. Tkachev, sanctioned by the European Union in 2014 for his support of Moscow's annexation of Crimea, was appointed Russia's agriculture minister the following year, and is the holding company's board chairman, the filings show.
Miami Herald
23-03-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Russian Economy Faces Major Shake-Up
Russian officials are hoping a privatization plan of state-owned assets, including those seized by court order since the start of President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, will boost government coffers after the desertion of Western capital from the sanctions-hit economy. Vladimir Milov, a Putin critic and former Russian minister, told Newsweek that the proposal to sell stakes in companies would not attract market players because they wouldn't have any influence over state-dominated firms. The announcement of the privatizations by Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov resurrects a stalled 2010 campaign to dispose of state assets and could generate billions of dollars in federal budget revenues. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Finance Ministry for comment. The privatization plan follows Russia's seizure of assets from owners accused of harming the country's national interests. Selling off stakes in state-owned firms, including seized ones, marks another episode in property redistribution in Russia, which seeks to fund its military as it faces the economic turbulence of sanctions, a worker shortage and inflation. On Tuesday, during a meeting with Rosimushchestvo, Russia's federal agency for property management, Siluanov announced major privatizations, where stakes in seven large companies would be sold to raise 300 billion rubles ($3.66 billion), Reuters reported. In 2023, Siluanov revisited a stalled plan that had been launched in 2010 proposing that the government sell shares in 30 state-owned companies without losing a controlling stake. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has filed lawsuits to seize assets from companies, which Putin insisted was not a reversal of privatization because the targeted owners were deemed to be harming the country's security. Firms in the military-industrial complex, engineering, food, ports and real estate linked to business owners abroad were most often targeted, raising concerns among businesses at the scope of nationalizations. Milov told Newsweek that in these circumstances, it would be difficult to find buyers for assets. Also, prior privatization announcements by Russian authorities were not followed by real actions, he said. "The value of assets actually privatized is negligible because for over two decades, the Russian government maintains control over key economic industries and do not want to let go of ownership of strategic players," Milov added. Milov, who was Russia's deputy energy minister between May and October 2002, said the Russian government might sell minority equity stakes in state-owned companies, retaining strategic control. However, this would be of little interest for market players because minority ownership requires significant investment and they would be unable to influence the firm's governance, rendering it a waste of money. Another option would be to prearrange the sale of minority stakes in some of the large state-owned companies to other big state players, Milov said, but this would not be privatization in the classical sense. Vasily Astrov, an expert on the Russian economy at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, said the privatization plan was another episode in property redistribution in Russia and that private actors close to government would get hold of the assets in question. Siluanov has said privatizations would intensify and that this year revenues from the sale of such property would be at least 100 billion rubles ($1.23 billion). Boris Grozovski, a Russian economics expert at the Wilson Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek that Siluanov was grappling with the government budget difficulties and that revenues from the privatizations would help him a lot. Timothy Ash, an emerging markets strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, told Newsweek that the plan highlighted the fiscal challenges Russia's authorities faced and how they had drawn down resources in the sovereign wealth fund. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Tuesday: "We have had proposals for big privatization." Former Russian Deputy Energy Minister Vladimir Milov told Newsweek: "This is of little interest for market players … such minority ownership requires significant investment but doesn't provide any opportunity for real influence over governance in companies still dominated by state control, and therefore remains simply a waste of money. No one wants to buy such useless minority stakes, which give zero influence and control." Boris Grozovski, a Russian economics expert at the Wilson Center, told Newsweek: "Siluanov has great difficulties with the budget for 2025 and beyond, and 2-3 trillion a year would help him a lot. … That is why he came up with this idea." Russia's Finance Ministry added dozens of new entries to the list of federal assets slated for privatization in the next two years, and auctions are scheduled for the second quarter of 2025. According to Grozovski, it is hard to say what the real extent of privatization will be because among the nationalized enterprises, many are directly or indirectly related to the military-industrial complex. Related Articles Elite Ukraine Soldier Reveals How He Got North Korean Fighter to SurrenderUS Update on Ukraine Peace Talks in Saudi ArabiaTrump Has More Than One Way Out of NATOWho Is Sergey Beseda? Putin Taps Disgraced Spy Handler for Trump Talks 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Reuters
18-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Russian finance ministry plans to revive mass privatisation drive
March 18 (Reuters) - Russia intends to revive plans for major privatisations in 2025 and also expects to bring in over $1.2 billion by selling assets seized through the courts, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Tuesday. Shunned by Western capital since launching the conflict in Ukraine, Moscow has been seeking ways to foster more domestic private investment, increase economic efficiency and, ultimately, bolster budget revenues as Russia spends heavily on the war. Get a look at the day ahead in European and global markets with the Morning Bid Europe newsletter. Sign up here. "We have had proposals for big privatisation," Siluanov said at a meeting with Rosimushchestvo, Russia's federal property management agency. "In our view, now is the time when we can put this issue on the agenda once again." In 2010, the finance ministry, then led by reformist Alexei Kudrin, first launched a multi-year privatisation campaign to dispose of state assets, but the scheme ultimately stalled. The state sale of a stake in oil major Rosneft ( opens new tab was the main deal from that time. In late 2023, Siluanov proposed resurrecting that privatisation drive, submitting to the government a list of 30 large state-owned companies and proposing to sell shares in them without losing a controlling stake, as part of an effort to reduce pressure on the domestic borrowing market. The ministry did not name the proposed companies and no major deals happened. Head of VTB Bank ( opens new tab Andrei Kostin had suggested oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, Russian Railways and Russian Post as potential candidates. Siluanov said privatisations would intensify this year, including through court decisions on seized assets. "In 2025, the receipt of revenues from the sale of such property is envisaged at no less than 100 billion roubles ($1.23 billion)," Siluanov said. Russia has already quickened the pace of domestic asset seizures in 2025, with courts ruling early this year that a leading grain trader, Moscow's Domodedovo airport and strategic warehouse assets be handed over to the state. Rosimushchestvo, meanwhile, has stepped in to run foreign-owned assets that Moscow has unilaterally seized in the last three years, such as those formerly held by Danish brewer Carlsberg ( opens new tab and French yoghurt maker Danone ( opens new tab.
