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Putin Seizes French Air Liquide Assets in Russia Amid Wave of Expropriations
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Russian leader Vladimir Putin has transferred the assets of the French chemical company Air Liquide to the Russian firm M-Logistika. The relevant decree was signed by the Russian leader on August 29, The Moscow Times reported.
According to the document, shares in Air Liquide Russia LLC, including subsidiaries like Air Liquide, AO Logistics, Air Liquide Severstal, Air Liquide Alabuga, Air Liquide Balakovo, Air Liquide Lipetsk, Air Liquide Ryazan, Air Liquide Kstovo, Air Liquide Kuzbass, and Sever Liquid Gas, have been placed under temporary management by the Russian company.
At least eight companies named M-Logistika are registered in Russia, according to data from SPARK-Interfax, with three located in Moscow and others in cities of St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, and Ufa. However, the specific M-Logistika company that has taken control of Air Liquide’s assets is not clarified in the presidential decree, The Moscow Times states.
Air Liquide, one of the world’s largest producers of industrial gases and cryogenic equipment, had operated in Russia since 1989. Due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the company decided to leave the Russian market in September 2022, transferring its business to local management.
Prior to the war, Air Liquide had strong ties with Russian metallurgical enterprises like Evraz ZSMK, Metalloinvest, and Severstal, according to The Moscow Times.
After the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, many foreign companies' assets in Russia were initially placed under temporary management by Russian companies or the state, and later resold. In April 2023, Putin signed a decree on the expropriation of foreign assets in retaliation for the confiscation of Russian assets in the US and other countries.
This week, Putin also transferred the temporary management of Chelyabenergoremont JSC, previously owned by Finnish energy group Fortum, to Rosimushchestvo, the Russian Federal Property Agency. Fortum’s Russian subsidiary, PAO Fortum, was handed over to Rosimushchestvo in 2023.
Fortum called the move a violation of international law and estimated its losses from the expropriation of its Russian assets at €1.7 billion. In February 2024, the Finnish company filed a lawsuit against Russia, seeking compensation for the seized assets, The Moscow Times reported.
Previously, 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 Putin.
