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Carlsberg Sells Baltika Brewery to Russian Billionaire Linked to Putin
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![Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk]( "Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk")
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In a new report, it has been confirmed that the Baltika brewery, previously owned by Danish company Carlsberg, was sold to a structure called “Ena Invest,” owned by a Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko, a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, The Moscow Times reported on August 14.
According to the investigation by the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), Timchenko’s wealth exceeds $23 billion, and “Ena Invest” is reported to have covered the personal expenses of Putin’s family. The sale, which has raised significant questions, was conducted at a price seven times lower than the fair value of the asset.
Carlsberg, a Danish brewing giant, had previously claimed that its top executives had bought the company. However, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin signed a decree transferring Baltika to temporary state control.
The formal buyer, “VG Invest,” was granted a loan from Rosselkhozbank to finance the deal. In just 22 days, the company repaid the loan through a series of transactions involving “Ena Invest.” Investigators estimate the brewery’s real value to be between 150–200 billion rubles (approx. $1,88-2.5 billion)
FBK has raised concerns that Timchenko purchased Baltika not for his own interests but likely on behalf of Putin, with ties going back to the 1990s when Putin, as a deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, helped the brewery secure foreign investors to prevent its closure.
This is not the first such deal involving Timchenko; a year before the Baltika transaction, “Ena Invest” acquired assets from the British oil company Shell, which exited Russia in 2022, the source states.
FBK further claims that “Ena Invest” has regularly financed expenses for Putin’s family, including millions of dollars for Alina Kabaeva’s foundation, a clinic connected to Putin’s daughter Maria Vorontsova, and multi-million salaries for the personal teachers of Putin’s younger children.
According to the FBK report, two foreign nationals, a Bosnian and a German, are paid by “Ena Invest” to tutor Putin’s children, each earning a salary three times higher than Putin’s official income.
Earlier, it was reported that Sony had formally ended its presence in Russia, dissolving its local subsidiary, Sony Mobile Communications Rus, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
The Japanese technology company had operated in Russia since 2006, marking an 18-year presence. Liquidation documents were submitted to the Federal Tax Service in October 2024, following an earlier unsuccessful attempt to close the business in 2023. In its final years, the subsidiary primarily sold remaining stock and provided device servicing.
