The key facts
- Peskov did not confirm the appeal over Coca-Cola assets and refused to comment on official correspondence
- Kommersant reported that Smagin's appeal concerned JSC Multon and LLC Multon Partners
- Against this backdrop, JTI and Metro assets had earlier been placed under temporary management
What happened
At a briefing on November 9, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov did not confirm reports that Vadim Smagin, owner of the Altai company Bochkari, had approached Vladimir Putin with a request to hand him Coca-Cola's Russian assets into temporary management. “I am not aware whether such an appeal was made, but even if it was, we never comment on internal, official or working correspondence,” he was quoted as saying Gazeta.Ru. Life.ru cites the same wording.
What is known about the appeal
Earlier Kommersant reported, that Smagin sent an appeal in mid-October: he asked to be given temporary management of JSC Multon and LLC Multon Partners, which are 21% owned by the American Coca-Cola. According to the newspaper, the presidential administration forwarded the appeal to the government for consideration. The Kremlin, however, did not deny the fact of the appeal itself — Peskov merely said he had no information about it.
Context of temporary management
The report came amid a series of decisions to place foreign assets under temporary management. The day before, on November 8, Putin placed the Russian assets of the Japanese tobacco company JTI under temporary management — the decree affected, in particular, the company Petro, linked to a large tobacco factory in St. Petersburg (as reported by Life.ru). Earlier, the assets of the retailer Metro were placed under temporary management of UK Torg Rus (Gazeta.Ru). Thus, the question of the fate of Coca-Cola's assets in Russia remains open: the appeal by Smagin, which Kommersant wrote about, has not been confirmed by the Kremlin, and no decision on the transfer of Multon has yet been announced.
