On Monday, the Swiss food giant said that its Russian subsidiary would continue operating in Russia, despite the Kremlin’s decision to transfer control of the assets to a little-known company, UNN reports, citing Reuters.
"The Nestle Group in Russia continues its commercial activities in full and declares its intention to unconditionally fulfill all obligations to customers, partners and employees," Russia’s TASS news agency quoted the company’s Russian press service as saying in an official statement.
According to a decree issued on Friday by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Nestle’s Russian assets and those of French retailer Auchan were placed under the temporary management of L.E.V. Management — a little-known company with no public track record of operations.
The Nestle statement, quoted by TASS, said that the transfer did not mean nationalization or a change of ownership. The company expressed confidence that cooperation with the L.E.V. Management team would help it continue developing and improve the efficiency of its operations.
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Following the announcement of Putin’s decree last week, Nestle — the producer of Nescafe coffee and KitKat chocolate bars — said it would "take all necessary measures to protect its rights and ensure the continuity of business processes in the interests of all stakeholders, primarily its employees."
The Kremlin said that hostile actions by "unfriendly" countries played a role in the decision to take control of Nestle’s and Auchan’s Russian assets.
In previous cases, the imposition of temporary management was often followed by state expropriation, with the assets subsequently transferred to individuals or companies linked to the Kremlin. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that, for now, this was only temporary management.