(Reuters) – Russia’s finance ministry has added the Russian Standard Group companies to a list of “economically significant organisations” and launched an arbitration case over their foreign corporate holding structure, it said on Wednesday.
The ministry listed holding companies in Cyprus and the United States and said that Western sanctions were impeding the operations of Roust Russia and Russian Standard Vodka, which make vodka and other spirits.
Russia has carried out similar moves with leading retailer X5 and private lender Alfa Bank. As Western nations discuss seizing Russian assets abroad, Moscow is keen to reduce possible foreign interference or leverage, particularly over economically important entities.
(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and Alexander Marrow; Editing by Louise Heavens)
