Russian President Vladimir Putin has placed the Russian assets of Japan Tobacco International under temporary administration, making the tobacco group the latest foreign company to lose control of its local operations in a widening Kremlin crackdown.
A decree published on Thursday handed JTI’s stakes in four Russian businesses to Industrial Assets, a Russian company, which will now manage them. The decree gave no reason for the move, but the Kremlin has linked similar seizures in the past to the behaviour of countries it designates as “hostile”.
JTI, part of Japan Tobacco Inc., describes itself as Russia’s biggest tobacco manufacturer by sales volume. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The seizure follows a string of similar moves. In September, Moscow placed the Russian assets of Swiss food group Nestle, German wholesaler Metro and French retailer Auchan under temporary management, and in October it took control of four more European companies, citing European countries’ support for Ukraine and what it called illegal expropriations of Russian property. In August, Mr Putin signed a decree broadening the state’s power to impose forced takeovers on private businesses deemed necessary to secure critical infrastructure.
The stakes are high for Japan Tobacco. Russia is the group’s biggest overseas market, accounting for about 12 per cent of group revenue and 20 per cent of operating profit, according to figures reported by Reuters in 2022. The company holds almost 40 per cent of the Russian cigarette market, employs about 4,000 people and runs four factories producing brands including Winston, Camel and Mevius. The Japanese government owns about a third of Japan Tobacco.
Unlike many Western companies, Japan Tobacco stayed in Russia after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, suspending new investment and marketing while continuing to manufacture and sell cigarettes. Its chief executive said in 2024 that the company would keep the business to protect investors’ interests, while remaining prepared to spin it off or sell it in a worst-case scenario.
The seizure comes as relations between Moscow and Tokyo deteriorate. In October, Russia’s Foreign Ministry described a drone sale to Ukraine by a Japanese company as a hostile step and warned of a harsh response, and last month Russia said it had detained a Japanese journalist in its far eastern Sakhalin region on suspicion of espionage.
The details of the decree are reported by Reuters, which is the single source for the seizure itself; Japan Tobacco has not yet commented publicly.
Sources: Reuters, “Putin places Japan Tobacco’s Russian assets under temporary administration” (https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/putin-places-japan-tobaccos-russian-assets-under-temporary-administration-2026-11-05/).
