By Anna Hirtenstein and Alexander Marrow
London (Reuters)-Plans are underway for a company belonging to the United States seized by the Kremlin and placed under state control to be used to provide food to the Russian army, showed a document by Reuters, potentially threatening the reargeted relations of Moscow with the United States
While the United States and the Kremlin are negotiating to stop the war in Ukraine, the food manufacturer canned Glavprodukt which was seized in October and is the only company belonging to the United States under the control of the State, was taken in the reticle.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his treatment is part of the conversation on resetting American-Russia.
The seizure was necessary to guarantee stable production, including for future supplies to the National Guard and the Ministry of Defense, according to a letter, examined by Reuters, addressed to the Prosecutor General of Russia of the new management of Glavprodukt.
Glavprodukt is now under the control of the Federal Properties Management Agency of Russia, Rosimushhetvo, having been seized with Leonid Smirnov, based in Los Angeles.
The Russian Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Rosimushhetvo did not respond to requests for comments on the plans of the State for Glavprodukt and questions about its new management.
Russian prosecutors accused Smirnov and companies controlled by him of having moved around 1.38 billion rubles ($ 17 million) from Russia from 2022 to 2024, RBC Daily reported in March.
On March 12, Glavprodukt's assets were seized by the Moscow Arbitration Court at the request of the prosecutor's office. A hearing is scheduled for April 18. Smirnov denies reprehensible acts and says that the trial is a “Russian style business raid” to steal his business.
The prosecutor did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
A dozen European companies have seen their Russian subsidiaries expropriated by presidential decree, including Danish brewer Carlsberg and the Finnish service Fortum and the Kremlin warned more convulsions of assets.
Ukraine’s invasion was to be a quick operation, but the war has now extended to more than three years, seeing Russia do a defense hike and ensuring more strict control of strategic assets. In 2022, Russia rushed to military supplies, including food.
Who is to gain the crisis?
The letter examined by Reuters highlights standing people to gain expropriation. He said Rosimushchestvo had appointed the new general manager of Glavprodukt at the request of the food producer Druzhba Narodov.
Druzhba Narodov was the only supplier of the Russian National Guard for 2019-2020, according to a press release from 2018.
A person familiar with the case said that Glavprodukt had never provided the army of Russia before.
A 2018 investigation by the late opposition politician Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund revealed that President Dmitry Medvedev, then, signed in 2017 on Druzhba Narodov becoming the only supplier of the National Guard.
The ownership information for Druzhba Narodov is classified, but the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported in 2022, citing information accessible to the public on the register of EGRUL companies in Russia, that the entities linked to agriculture holding `Agrocomplex appointed from according to or Tkachev '' had hidden Druzhba Narodov.
Reuters could not verify independently that the information is now classified, but the agrocomplex outfit mentioned, and Druzhba Narodov, share the same agrocomplex domain name for certain email addresses, according to their websites and their deposits of the register of Spark's companies in Russia.
Druzhba Narodov and Agrocomplex did not respond to requests for comments.
The ultimate owner of the participation is Alexander Tkachev, according to audit documents independent of the company in 2025, examined by Reuters.
Tkachev, sanctioned by the European Union in 2014 for his support for the annexation of Crimea by Moscow, was appointed Minister of Agriculture of Russia the following year and was the chairman of the board of directors of the portfolio company, according to deposits.
(Report by Anna Hirtenstein and Alexander Marrow in London; edition by Elaine Hardcastle)
