Russia takes over more EU companies' assets over Ukraine support

By Gleb Bryanski

MOSCOW, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Russia has seized control of the local assets of four companies from France, Germany, Sweden and Belgium, according to a decree by President Vladimir Putin, in retaliation for Europe's wartime support for Ukraine.

Thursday's decree listed assets belonging to French flooring maker Tarkett, German packaging maker Menshen, Swedish packaging maker Sverige International Holdings and Belgian hygiene product company Ontex. 

The decree also listed Russian assets of former European metal-packaging business Eviosys acquired by US packaging group Sonoco in December 2024. The decree listed the assets as owned by Sonoco's Dutch unit.

EU leaders rallied around President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at a summit on Friday at one of the most difficult moments for Ukraine amid fears that the US could pull back intelligence sharing and weapons support from Kyiv. 

The Kremlin said that the assets' takeover continued a trend after a similar move last month against food giant Nestle and retailers Auchan and Metro. 

"Their country of origin was one of the factors taken into account in making the decision," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that these countries were involved in "illegal expropriations of Russian property." 

Temporary administration of the European companies' properties was handed to Russian companies that had been largely unknown.

PUTIN NOTES 'DOWNSIDES'

Ontex, which employs 350 people in Russia and operates a factory outside Moscow, said it has been informed about the decree and will "consider appropriate actions to safeguard its assets and the continuity of Ontex Russia’s operations." 

Sonoco said in its 2025 report that it had finalised its own exit from Russia in 2022 but acquired more assets, making up 0.5% of the company's total, as part of the Eviosys deal. 

Tarkett said it was "losing effective control over its operations in Russia" and was assessing the situation.

The Kremlin said the measures responded to EU nations' involvement in "direct battlefield hostilities" but were also "reversible."

Speaking to Russian businessmen just before the decree was published on Thursday, Putin acknowledged that taking Western assets had "certain downsides" without giving more details.

He urged the Russian businesses taking over the assets to seek domestic financing sources instead. 

Putin cited the 2008 global financial crisis, which had a profound impact on the Russian economy, as an example of the risks of excessive exposure to global markets. He said foreign countries pursued their own interests through investment.

There have been some reports that the US could seek control of some Russian assets frozen in Europe as part of efforts to provide incentives for Russia to negotiate with Ukraine.   

Russia criticises the EU for freezing about €210 billion ($238 billion) of its sovereign assets in response to the war and for targeting assets belonging to Russian companies in Europe and other Western countries.

(Reporting by Gleb Byranksi in Moscow; Additional reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya, Gleb Stolyarov in Moscow and Mateusz Rabiega in Gdansk; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Andrew Cawthorne)