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An American who fled the Soviet Union in the 1970s and built a preserving food empire of $ 200 million calls President Donald Trump Russian authorities seized the company and its assets, according to reports.
Leonid Smirnov of Los Angeles, California, told New York Post that he was running to save his business, Glavprodukt, which he started in 1999 and was known as Campbell’s in Russia.
Smirnov said that what happens to his business is “a raid in a government crisis and an attempted confiscation”.
He also warned that if it could happen to him, it could happen to one of the hundreds of companies operating from the United States in Russia, especially after Russian President Vladimir Putin started to target foreign companies after ordering the troops to invade Ukraine.
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A photo taken on February 1, 2022 shows the Vodovzvodnaya tower of the Kremlin (L) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Building (R) in Moscow. ((Photo of Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
Over the past three years, nearly a dozen companies have been put under the “temporary management” of the Russian authorities, and Glavprodukt was the first to be targeted.
Glavprodukt has become known in Russia for its soups, vegetables, fish and canned meats.
The company was also a crucial element of the Smirnov Empire, which includes a 14,000 square feet manor and $ 20 million formerly rented by Paris Hilton in Los Angeles.
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Smirnov told post in October 2024, three foreigners presented themselves at the headquarters to take over the company, and according to the entrepreneur, they were sent to the company on Putin’s orders.
Orders demanded that the other assets of Glavprodukt and Smirnov under his American company, Universal drinkbe placed under “temporary” leadership by the Russian authorities.
Smirnov says his business has lost up to 30% of its value since the Russian authorities resumed the company, which employed 1,000 workers between three factories.
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In addition to the losses, the main prosecutor of Russia, in last month, accused Smirnov of illegally siphoning millions of dollars in the United States, as well as working with the United States to Russia’s “strategic defeat”.
A court in Russia also ordered that the species and assets linked to Glavprodukt are seized, all to force Smirnov to sell his business at a much lower price than his value.
Fox Business contacted Glavprodukt to comment.
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Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was interviewed by Matthew Boyle of Breitbart News, when the first was questioned about the Russians who seized a certain number of Western companies.
Boyle noted that in October, the Russians took the first American company, Glavprodukt, which belongs to Universal Beverage, before asking if it was something that Rubio and his team could use to put pressure on the Russians in the negotiations.
“Well, that will be part of a conversation,” said Rubio, before noting that before everything can happen, the Moscow Embassy must operate.
He continued, saying that once the functional embassy, the State Department will invite Russia to speak.
“There are opportunities to work together, and this will obviously involve talking not only about Russian assets that have been seized by Europeans or the United States or what you have, but also American companies that have been injured,” said Rubio. “So it should be wide – part of a broader conversation on how to reset our relationships.”
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However, Smirnov fears that his business does not exist when the United States and Russia reset their relations.
In the meantime, he told the post, he wanted Trump to intervene and said that companies belonging to Putin are prohibited.
“I ask President Trump To get involved and save my business, save all the other American companies, “he said.