Vladimir Putin transferred the assets of one of the world's largest producers of industrial and medical gases, the French Air Liquide, to a little-known firm without employees – "M-Logistics", the "System" project found out*. The corresponding decree was signed on August 29.
The beneficiary of the company, Artem Serebrennikov, previously received scandalous state contracts for the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
Air Liquide operates in more than 70 countries, serving metallurgy, energy, chemical industry, and healthcare. In Russia, the company employs 720 people, and the revenue of related legal entities in 2021 amounted to 17.2 billion rubles. Meanwhile, LLC "M-Logistics" from Taganrog, Rostov region, was registered in March 2024, while the company has no employees and uses a simplified tax system. Its sole founder and director is 46-year-old Muscovite Artem Serebrennikov. In 2022-2024, he held the position of director for interaction with government agencies in the Russian representation of Air Liquide, and before that, he headed JSC "Intertest" – a contractor for the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome. The construction was accompanied by criminal cases of embezzlement and corruption scandals.
Since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, Putin has already signed at least 16 decrees, essentially meaning the seizure of assets from companies from "unfriendly" countries. Initially, companies are transferred to "temporary management," and the Prosecutor General's Office files lawsuits for nationalization. In just two years, more than 100 such lawsuits have been filed, with the total value of seized assets estimated at tens of billions of euros.
* Recognized in Russia as a "foreign agent" and "undesirable" organization.