Medvedev defends control of Nestlé and Auchan: “They only understand brute force”

O dmitry Medvedev, former President of Russia and current Vice-President of the Country Security Council, defended this Saturday the decision to place under temporary control assets of European companies.

This is because the assets of Swiss Nestlé, French Auchan and Leroy Merlin, renamed Le Monlid in 2024, in the Russian Federation were transferred to the same Russian company. A the measure was contested by France, with the Ministries of Economics and Foreign Affairs asking Moscow to reverse the decision on Auchan.

In a publication on the Telegram platform, Medvedev first stated: “I am not tired of being surprised by the arrogance of these miserable European cripples.”.

The former Russian President recalled that it was the European countries that “imposed total sanctions on companies” in Russia, “achieving the interests of millions of Russian citizens” and “prohibiting even cultural ties” with Russia. 

And he shot: “They are waging a direct war against Russia, providing our opponent with everything they can – from missiles and intelligence information to direct funding to sustain the flagship power.”.

“ And now, you see, their companies are a sacred cow. Do not touch Nestlé, Auchan and other companies that provided us with considerable revenue,” he said. “Even the temporary administration, determined by the president’s decree, caused a wave of panic among European governments.”.

Medvedev went further and considered that, “as a matter of principle”, Russia “should go beyond the temporary administration of foreign assets”, recalling “the first decrees of Soviet power, on the basis of which foreign factories and companies were compulsively and without any compensation confiscated and transferred to state property and no one returned anything to anyone.”.

“After all, like 100 years ago, these euro-mergers only understand brute force,” he said.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree authorising Russian company L.E.V. Management to temporarily take control of Nestlé and Auchan's assets. A similar measure was adopted on the shares of the Le Monlid chain of stores, which previously operated in Russian territory under the brand Leroy Merlin.

The spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov, said that the decision affects companies from countries that the Russian Federation considers “unfriendly”.

Among the factors considered, it has detailed, are the support of the States concerned for Ukraine and its alleged involvement in attacks on Russian critical civil infrastructure.

Peskov stressed that, for the time being, it is only the “establishment of temporary control” of the assets, stressing that no other decisions were taken on their possible transfer or sale to the company responsible for managing them.