On Thursday, September 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree placing the Russian assets of foreign companies Auchan and Nestle, as well as the former Leroy Merlin retail chain, under temporary management. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing the pro-Kremlin Interfax agency. According to the outlet, a number of logistics and retail structures have been placed under control, which effectively legalizes the seizure of businesses of companies that, despite Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, did not leave the Russian market.
The essence of the decree and the management structure
According to the text of the decree, the assets have been transferred to the temporary management of the joint-stock company "L.E.V. Management". The perimeter of this structure's management, in addition to the main retail and production assets, includes the companies FM Logistics and Bati Logistics, as well as OOO "Le Monlid" — the legal entity of the former Leroy Merlin chain. Thus, a single management company gains control over the scattered assets of several international brands.
Who is behind "L.E.V. Management"
According to available data, JSC "L.E.V. Management" was registered only in October 2024, that is, about two years ago. The company's general director is listed as Andrey Krayushkin, while information about the actual owners of the structure is not disclosed. Based on the reporting, the company is characterized as fictitious: in 2025 it carried out no active business activity, which makes its appearance in the role of manager of major assets an additional matter of concern.
Which assets were placed under temporary management
Nestle has been operating in Russia since 1994; it has six production sites in Kaluga, Vologda, Samara and Vladimir regions, as well as in the Perm and Krasnodar Krai. The combined revenue of the company's four main legal entities in 2021 was 29.94 billion rubles; income for subsequent periods is unknown. The Auchan retail chain, according to the source, has 230 stores in 100 cities, and since 2022 its Russian division has operated autonomously. The former Leroy Merlin entered the Russian market in 2004, later changing its name to "Lemana PRO"; the chain's management includes 112 stores, 11 dark stores and six distribution centers. Since December 2023, 99.99% of OOO "Le Monlid" has been owned by a UAE-based company — Scenari Holding LP, while the French group Adeo has retained 0.007%.
Contradictory data
The source materials contain an internal inconsistency in the chronology of Auchan's operations in Russia: on the one hand, it is stated that the chain "started operating in Russia from 2022", while on the other hand, it is noted that "since 2022 the Russian division has operated autonomously", which logically implies an earlier presence of the company on the market. The different formulations in the publications do not allow unambiguously determining the date of the actual start of the chain's activities, so this parameter requires additional verification. The remaining key facts — the date of the decree's signing, the list of transferred assets and the name of the management structure — are consistent across the sources examined.
Context: the practice of confiscations in Russia
Earlier, in January, the Bloomberg agency reported that Russia had confiscated a record volume of assets worth trillions of rubles, but is unable to sell them to replenish the military budget; the failed sale of Moscow's Domodedovo airport was cited as an example. Also, in August, Putin signed a document introducing temporary management at critical infrastructure facilities if their owners failed to protect the property from Ukrainian drone attacks. The new decree continues this logic, extending the seizure mechanism to the assets of foreign companies that remained on the Russian market.
