Tokyo, Nov. 7 (Jiji Press)–Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed an additional order for assets held by Japan Tobacco Inc. in Russia to be placed under the temporary management of a Russian company. The assets targeted by the new order include shares and other holdings of three nonmanufacturing companies. The latest order came after Putin signed a similar order on Thursday placing four Japan Tobacco manufacturing entities in Russia under the management of the same Russian company. In its online edition published on Thursday, Russian newspaper Kommersant said that the Russian company may have links to an individual close to the Putin administration. Russia set up the temporary management system for foreign firms’ assets in 2023 in response to freezes on Russian assets imposed over its invasion of Ukraine by Western and other countries designated by Moscow as “unfriendly.” While companies under management by the Russian side will retain ownership of the assets, they effectively lose management rights. Moscow has amped up pressure on Japan, which has continued to provide aid to Ukraine. In August, Putin visited Etorofu, one of the four northwestern Pacific islands at the center of a long-standing territorial dispute between Tokyo and Moscow. Last month, Russian authorities detained a reporter for Japan’s Hokkaido Shimbun on suspicion of espionage. According to JT International, an overseas subsidiary of Japan Tobacco, the Japanese firm has been operating in Russia since 1999. In 2007, it became the leader in Russia’s tobacco market. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Japan Tobacco suspended new investments in Russia, but maintained existing business operations. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
