Mediazona says an interior ministry general's company took the Nestlé and Auchan assets; Libération names only "L.E.V. Management"

The decree. A Russian presidential decree published on Thursday puts the Russian assets of Nestlé and Auchan under the management of a single Russian company. All three reports we hold carry that much.

The lists differ. So does the recipient.

Outlet	Whose assets	The recipient	Who is named as acting
Mediazona	Nestlé, Auchan	"the company of an interior ministry general"	Putin, named in the headline, handed control over
The Insider	Auchan, Nestlé, FM Logistic	"a high-ranking interior ministry official"; the firm "is listed among ready-made joint-stock companies for 450 thousand roubles"	nobody — the verb carries no actor
Libération	Nestlé, Auchan, the former Leroy Merlin	"L.E.V. Management"; no ministry link mentioned	a decree, not a person; the assets "will be managed, temporarily"

One name each, never both. The two Russian reports identify the recipient by who stands behind it and do not name the company. Libération names the company and not its owner. No report we hold names the general.

Not settled. Whether three companies are involved or four: FM Logistic appears only in The Insider, the former Leroy Merlin only in Libération. Whether this is a handover of control or, as Libération has it, temporary management. The 450,000-rouble price sits in one report of three. None of the three carries a response from Nestlé, Auchan, FM Logistic or Leroy Merlin, and none gives a number of staff or stores.

What this is about. A decree signed by Russia's president moves the Russian businesses of some of Europe's biggest food and retail companies out of their owners' hands and into the management of a Russian firm, without a sale.

How it got here. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Western governments imposed sanctions, hundreds of Western companies announced they were leaving Russia, and Moscow answered with rules that made leaving expensive and slow: a foreign seller needs state approval, sells at a state-set discount, and pays a levy to the budget. In April 2023 a further presidential decree created another instrument — "temporary management", under which the state places a foreign-owned Russian business under a manager it appoints while ownership formally stays where it is. Energy and brewing assets were taken that way first. Nestlé and Auchan were among the large Western firms that did not leave and kept trading in Russia. Libération calls the third business the former Leroy Merlin — the French home-improvement chain whose Russian stores were passed to local management and rebranded.

Who is in it. Nestlé is Swiss; Auchan and Leroy Merlin are French; FM Logistic, which only The Insider names, is a French logistics group. Russia's interior ministry is its police ministry. Mediazona and The Insider, two Russian outlets, both say the company receiving the assets belongs to one of that ministry's senior officers; Mediazona calls him a general. Libération does not mention the link at all.

What is at stake. Whether a company that stayed in Russia can still be said to own what it built there, and what "temporary" turns out to mean in practice. For the people in the shops, factories and warehouses, the employer changes by decree, with no sale and no buyer to negotiate with.

Where it stands. The decree was published on Thursday. No report we hold carries a response from any company named in it.

What is being argued about

Who now manages the Russian assets of Nestlé and Auchan
Whether this is a handover of control or temporary management
Which companies are on the list — three reports, three lists
Who each report names as doing the handing over

Three reports on one decreeSide by side

Outlet	Companies named	Recipient as described	Hedged?
Mediazona	Nestlé, Auchan	"the company of an interior ministry general" — company not named	No — control was handed over
The Insider	Auchan, Nestlé, FM Logistic	"a high-ranking interior ministry official" — company not named, priced at 450 thousand roubles	No — the assets were handed over, with no actor named
Libération	Nestlé, Auchan, the former Leroy Merlin	"L.E.V. Management" — owner not named, no ministry link mentioned	Yes — "will be managed, on a temporary basis"

A count of what each report says, taken from the reports we hold on this transfer. Not a judgement of any outlet.

Sources M Mediazona T The Insider L Libération

Claims and verdicts

true A Russian presidential decree has placed the Russian assets of Nestlé, Auchan and the former Leroy Merlin under the temporary management of a single Russian company.

Libération cites a presidential decree published on Thursday and names the manager as L.E.V. Management; Mediazona and The Insider both report the same transfer of the Nestlé, Auchan and FM Logistic assets to one company. No report we hold contradicts it.

Checked against 3 sources:

L Libération M Mediazona T The Insider

true The company now managing the assets belongs to a senior Russian interior ministry officer.

Mediazona says the company belongs to an interior ministry general and The Insider says it belongs to a high-ranking interior ministry official, two separate reports with no contradiction between them. Libération names the company but does not mention any interior ministry link, and the rank of general rests on Mediazona alone.

Checked against 3 sources:

M Mediazona T The Insider L Libération

unverified The company is listed among off-the-shelf joint-stock companies on sale for 450,000 roubles.

Only The Insider reports this detail. Mediazona and Libération, which cover the same transfer, do not mention it.

Checked against 1 source:

T The Insider

Who wrote it

3 reports we hold carry no byline — we do not invent one.

Coverage, outlet by outlet

M Mediazona — independent

Путин передал контроль над российскими активами Nestle и «Ашан» компании генерала МВД

The only report that names the president as the person who handed control over, and the only one that gives the recipient a rank: a general of the interior ministry.

Новости Сюжеты Онлайны Тексты Дата Подкасты Поддержать Поддержать Новости Сюжеты Онлайны Тексты Дата Подкасты Измена и шпионаж Хроники войны Дела о военных «фейках» Дело ФБК «Дискредитация» армии Диверсии Все темы Новость 17 сентября 2026, 21:38 Путин передал контроль над российскими активами Nestle и «Ашан» компании генерала МВД Владимир Путин подписал указ о передаче во временное управление российских активов торговых сетей «Ашан» и «Лемана Про» (известна как Leroy Merlin) и производителя Nestle. Новым управляющим стала компания «Л.Е.В. Менеджмент», которую с 10 сентября возглавляет Андрей К

Who is named as acting: a named person hands over the assets; the recipient is identified by his rank, not his name — “Путин передал контроль над российскими активами Nestle и «Ашан» компании генерала МВД”

Who is named as acting: the president is named in the headline as the person who handed control over — “Путин передал контроль над российскими активами Nestle и «Ашан»”

Read it at Mediazona → https://zona.media/news/2026/09/17/lev

T The Insider — exile

Активы Auchan, Nestle и FM Logistic передали компании высокопоставленного сотрудника МВД. Она числится среди готовых АО за 450 тысяч рублей

Adds FM Logistic to the list, and carries the only figure in any of the three — the receiving firm listed among ready-made joint-stock companies for 450 thousand roubles.

Содержание 1.Компанию за неделю до указа возглавил генерал МВД 2.Один сотрудник, нулевая выручка и 15 тысяч рублей капитала 3.Компанию продавали как «готовое АО» 4.«Временное управление» уже заканчивалось потерей бизнеса Владимир Путин передал во временное управление АО «Л.Е.В. Менеджмент» российские активы французской сети Auchan и швейцарской Nestlé, а также структуры группы FM Logistic. За неделю до этого компанию возглавил бывший высокопоставленный сотрудник МВД, генерал-майор полиции Андрей Краюшкин, выяснила «Новая газета Европа». The Insider обнаружил, что «Л.Е.В. Менеджмент» при этом д

Who is named as acting: the transfer has no actor named — the verb is impersonal and nobody hands anything over — “Активы Auchan, Nestle и FM Logistic передали компании высокопоставленного сотрудника МВД”

Figure given: the only price we hold — the receiving company priced as an off-the-shelf shell — “Она числится среди готовых АО за 450 тысяч рублей”

Who is named as acting: the verb has no actor named; the transfer happens without an author — “Активы Auchan, Nestle и FM Logistic передали компании высокопоставленного сотрудника МВД”

Which figure is chosen: the only figure in any report we hold prices the recipient as an off-the-shelf shell company — “Она числится среди готовых АО за 450 тысяч рублей”

Read it at The Insider → https://theins.ru/news/297239

L Libération —

Russie : les actifs de Nestlé, Auchan et de l’ex-Leroy Merlin transférés à une même société russe

The only report that names the receiving company, L.E.V. Management, dates the decree to Thursday and calls the arrangement temporary; the only one to name the former Leroy Merlin, and the only one with no interior

Selon un décret présidentiel publié ce jeudi, les actifs russes des entreprises suisse et française vont être gérés, de façon temporaire, par la société russe «L.E.V. Management».

Asserted or attributed: the whole account is attributed to a decree and dated, and the arrangement is hedged as temporary management rather than a handover of control — “Selon un décret présidentiel publié ce jeudi, les actifs russes des entreprises suisse et française vont être gérés, de façon temporaire, par la société russe «L.E.V. Management».”

Who is named: the receiving company is named; no person behind it is — “par la société russe «L.E.V. Management»”

Whose story it is: the firms are identified by nationality rather than by the workers or outlets in Russia affected — “les actifs russes des entreprises suisse et française”

Who is named as acting: the transfer is in the passive; a decree, not a person, is given as the source — “les actifs de Nestlé, Auchan et de l’ex-Leroy Merlin transférés à une même société russe”

What is hedged: the takeover is hedged as temporary management rather than a change of control — “vont être gérés, de façon temporaire, par la société russe «L.E.V. Management»”

Who is named: the receiving company is named but its owner is not; the losing firms appear by nationality — “les actifs russes des entreprises suisse et française”

Read it at Libération → https://www.liberation.fr/international/europe/russie-les-actifs-de-nes…

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Desks

Mediazona says an interior ministry general's company took the Nestlé and Auchan assets; Libération names only "L.E.V. Management"

What is being argued about

Who moved the assets, and to whom

Claims and verdicts

Who wrote it

Coverage, outlet by outlet