Story perspectives

Putin Signs Decree Seizing Nestlé’s Russian Assets Temporarily

By Drooid · Sep 19, 2026, 6:22 AM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree placing Nestlé’s Russian assets under temporary administration.
The same decree transferred French retailer Auchan’s Russian operations to the temporary administrator.
L.E.V. Management, a Moscow firm registered in 2024, now controls the administered assets.
The temporary-administration tool was created by a 2023 presidential decree targeting “unfriendly” countries.
Legal experts say such administration often precedes forced sales to Kremlin-linked buyers.

History

Historical Context

After Vladimir Putin’s government arrested Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky in October 2003 and seized Yukos’s core asset Yuganskneftegaz in a December 2004 auction, state-owned Rosneft obtained the unit that had produced about 20 % of Russia’s oil. In November 2023 Putin issued a decree creating a temporary-administration regime that placed Nestlé’s and Auchan’s Russian holdings under L.E.V. Management, echoing the Yukos expropriation pattern.

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Story summary

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree placing Nestlé’s Russian assets under temporary administration.
The same decree transferred French retailer Auchan’s Russian operations to the temporary administrator.
L.E.V. Management, a Moscow firm registered in 2024, now controls the administered assets.
The temporary-administration tool was created by a 2023 presidential decree targeting “unfriendly” countries.
Legal experts say such administration often precedes forced sales to Kremlin-linked buyers.

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