The company, expropriated from Los Angeles‑based owner Leonid Smirnov and now run by state agency Rosimushchestvo, is the only U.S. firm placed under Kremlin control since the Ukraine invasion.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that Glavprodukt’s fate will weigh on efforts to reset relations while Washington and Moscow seek an end to the war.
Russian prosecutors accuse Smirnov of moving RUB 1.38 billion ($17 million) abroad; he calls the case a “corporate raid.” The Moscow Arbitration Court froze company assets, with a hearing set for April 18.
Rosimushchestvo installed new management at the request of Druzhba Narodov, a food supplier once the National Guard’s sole contractor. Reports link Druzhba Narodov to Agrocomplex, owned by EU‑sanctioned former agriculture minister Alexander Tkachev.
Glavprodukt joins a dozen foreign assets—such as Carlsberg’s and Fortum’s Russian units—taken over by the state as Moscow boosts defense spending.
The company had never before served the military.
(jh)
Source: Reuters