Russia’s latest use of temporary management over foreign-owned businesses is now being presented by the Kremlin as part of its response to Europe’s support for Ukraine and sanctions pressure, rather than as an isolated corporate intervention.
The immediate picture spans several dates. The Russian operations of Nestlé and Auchan were added to the temporary-management regime on 17 September. On 28 September, an official order put assets linked to Metro Cash & Carry’s Russian business under the temporary administration of UK Torg RUS. A Kremlin briefing on 29 September then supplied the wider political explanation, explicitly linking such decisions to what it described as the increased involvement of “unfriendly” European countries in hostilities against Russia.
That sequence matters. It means the three companies were not all placed under the same order on the same day. The new development is the expansion to Metro, followed by a public Kremlin argument that casts the measures as leverage in the wider confrontation with European governments.
Management control, not a simple change of title
Temporary management is a legal mechanism created under a 2023 presidential order. It allows a state-appointed or state-approved manager to take operational control of specified Russian assets connected to owners from countries Moscow classifies as unfriendly. The formal ownership position is more complicated than the word “seizure” suggests. In Metro’s case, the company said it had lost operational control of its Russian subsidiary while retaining formal ownership. The practical effect, however, is that the foreign owner no longer directs the local business.
The official 17 September order named a series of Russian entities, including Nestlé and Auchan operations, and assigned them to L.E.V. Management. It also covered other logistics and retail-linked businesses. The 28 September order separately transferred Metro-linked assets to UK Torg RUS. The two measures therefore show the mechanism being used across consumer goods, food retail and wholesale supply.
For businesses that continued to operate in Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the distinction between ownership and control is commercially significant. Day-to-day decisions on staff, suppliers, stores, investment and cash flow may be taken outside the parent company’s direction. Temporary management does not, by itself, establish that a permanent transfer will follow. But earlier cases have heightened concern among foreign groups because a loss of control can severely limit the options available to an owner.
A political message aimed at Europe
On 29 September, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the decisions reflected what Moscow calls the growing involvement of unfriendly countries in direct battlefield hostilities. He said the moves could be reversible, but added that the Kremlin saw no grounds to reverse course without what it regarded as meaningful dialogue. Those are the Russian government’s assertions; no evidence or specific detail was provided in support of the claim about European countries’ direct battlefield involvement.
Russia has repeatedly criticised European military assistance to Ukraine, sanctions and the freezing of Russian state assets. European governments and the European Union, meanwhile, support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and say Moscow bears responsibility for the war and its continuation. The competing positions are central to the risk faced by companies whose Russian subsidiaries remain in operation.
The Metro order has a particularly clear European dimension: the business is German, while Nestlé is Swiss and Auchan is French. The Kremlin’s subsequent comments invite other European groups to read the action as more than company-specific regulation. An unnamed senior Russian government source was reported as suggesting that further measures could follow, although no formal list of future targets was announced.
The episode is also a reminder that corporate exposure in Russia is now inseparable from diplomatic and security conditions. Companies still operating there must assess not only sanctions compliance and ordinary trading conditions, but also the possibility that a presidential order could abruptly change who controls their local operations. For employees, customers and suppliers, the immediate question is continuity of trading. For parent companies and investors, it is whether a nominal ownership stake can still protect the value of a business once management authority has moved elsewhere.
There is no indication in the latest orders that the three groups have been treated identically or that their assets have already been permanently transferred. What is clear is a widening pattern: an earlier order affecting Nestlé and Auchan, a fresh Metro intervention, and a Kremlin statement attaching those steps to its dispute with European states.
