President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian operations of Swiss food group Nestlé and three French companies into temporary external administration, widening the Kremlin’s control over foreign-owned businesses as the war against Ukraine enters its fifth year.
The decree cites hostile actions by countries Russia designates as ‘unfriendly’. It transfers control of Nestlé’s Russian business, French retailer Auchan and the former Leroy Merlin DIY chain, now called Lemana Pro, to LEV Management. The order also applies to the Russian subsidiaries of French logistics group FM Logistic.
LEV Management was created at the end of 2025 and is headed by a Russian interior ministry general. It had no known business activity before the decree. The order places the businesses under external management, while leaving unclear whether that status will lead to a permanent change in ownership.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the decree established external management and that no further decisions had been made. The statement offered little indication of how LEV Management will run the companies or what authority it will exercise over their operations.
Nestlé said on Friday that it was assessing its options after Russia put its Russian operations under temporary external administration. The group has six factories in Russia and employs roughly 7,000 people there. Its local business includes coffee, pet care, infant nutrition and confectionery.
Russia accounts for just over 1% of Nestlé’s total sales. Nestlé stock fell roughly 2.3% on the Zurich stock exchange on Friday. The financial effect of the Russian action on the company’s consolidated results remains unknown.
France called on Russian authorities late Friday to ‘reverse this decision’. Switzerland aligned itself with E.U. sanctions on Russia after the 2022 invasion, which prompted most Western companies to sell their Russian operations.
The legal basis for the latest action is a 2023 decree that gave Moscow powers over assets held by nationals or companies from states it classifies as ‘unfriendly’. Russia has previously taken control of local units belonging to Danish brewer Carlsberg, French food producer Danone and Finnish utility Fortum.
Danone’s Russian business was later sold to a nephew of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The Nestlé order therefore adds a major consumer business to a series of foreign corporate assets that have passed into Russian state-directed control during the conflict.
The decree gives the Kremlin a mechanism to direct businesses that had remained active in Russia after the invasion. It leaves open the future of Nestlé’s Russian operations, the three French groups covered by the order, and the possibility of similar action against other Western companies.
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