Source. This has been the subject of discussion since 2023, the year in which Carlsberg and Danone were forced to sell their assets to Russian companies favoured by the Kremlin. Danone ended up in the hands of the nephew of the Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov.
It is estimated that Danone lost €1.2 billion in this sale.
… According to a 2025 estimate by the Moscow-based law firm NSP, the Russian state has seized more than $50 billion worth of private property, including assets belonging to foreign companies that have left Russia, since the start of the war.
Meanwhile, the Russian operations of Nestlé and Auchan have been placed under temporary control by L.E.V. Management, a little-known company with no public profile.
Auchan, which operates 230 shops and an online business in Russia, employing around 30,000 people, declined to comment.
Nestlé has six factories in Russia producing coffee, pet care and baby formula products. It generated sales of around 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.4 billion) in Russia in 2021, the last year for which it published figures, and has around 7,000 employees there.
This accounted for around 2 per cent of the group’s sales, although analysts estimate that this contribution has fallen since Nestlé scaled back its operations in Russia. …(Reuters).
In July, London-listed Reckitt agreed to sell part of its Russian business to Sagal after being hit by a new round of EU sanctions.
Ferrero, however, has remained in Russia.
Drafted on 18 September, updated on 22 September 2026
