Russian President Vladimir Putin has widened the state's grip on Japan Tobacco's business in Russia, extending a temporary administration order to three more companies owned by the Japanese group in a second decree published overnight.
On Thursday 5 November, Mr Putin signed a decree placing the stakes in four Japan Tobacco International (JTI) businesses under the temporary management of a Russian company, Industrial Assets. The four were the manufacturing companies JTI Donskoy Tabak, Petro, JTI Yelets and Kres Neva, which run JTI's factories in Russia.
A separate decree, published overnight and reported on Saturday, extended the measure to three additional companies, all owned by JTI Investments Sarl, according to the Interfax news agency. The three firms, Pereslavl-Tobacco, JTI Innovative Products and JTI Russia, acted as import, management and holding companies for the group, Interfax said.
The move makes Japan Tobacco the latest foreign company to lose control of its Russian operations as Moscow tightens its grip on overseas-owned assets. JTI is Russia's largest tobacco manufacturer, and its brands include Winston and Camel. Japan Tobacco Inc, the parent company, is about 37 per cent owned by the Japanese government.
The scale of what is at stake is large. The Russian business accounts for about 10 per cent of Japan Tobacco Group's revenue and roughly 25 per cent of its operating profit, according to Reuters. JTI employs around 4,000 people in Russia and operates four factories there, having been present in the country since 1999 and acquiring the local producer Donskoi Tabak in 2018.
The decrees gave no reason for the move, and neither decree sets out whether output, staffing or day-to-day operations will change. Anton Pivovarov, the head of Industrial Assets, was quoted by the Russian outlet RBC as saying the company would seek to maintain production, preserve existing teams and fulfil obligations to employees and business partners without disruption.
Tokyo has protested against the takeover. The Japanese government lodged a formal protest through diplomatic channels and asked Moscow to withdraw the measure, and Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama confirmed the protest. JTI said it was analysing the situation and considering possible response scenarios.
The legal basis for the orders is a presidential decree signed in April 2023, Decree No. 302, which allows Moscow to place assets belonging to companies from countries it designates as unfriendly under temporary management, in retaliation for freezes on Russian assets imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has previously linked similar asset seizures to actions taken by countries it considers hostile to Russia.
Japan Tobacco is far from the first foreign business to be caught by the mechanism. In 2023 it was used against the Russian operations of Finnish energy company Fortum, German utility Uniper, French food group Danone and Danish brewer Carlsberg. The beer operations of Anadolu Efes followed in December 2024, and in September 2026 Moscow extended the measure to the Russian operations of Swiss food giant Nestle, German wholesaler Metro and French retailer Auchan.
For Japan Tobacco, the takeover puts one of its leading markets under state-appointed management. The four manufacturing companies placed under temporary administration on Thursday generated a combined 93.3 billion roubles, about $1.1 billion, in revenue and 15.9 billion roubles in net profit in 2023, and reports put JTI's investment in Russia over more than two decades at $4.6 billion. Whether the group can recover control of its Russian business, or is forced to write it off, will depend on diplomacy between Tokyo and Moscow and on how long the temporary management lasts.
Market figures in this report were checked at 18:52 PKT on Saturday 07 November 2026.
This post is market news information only, not financial advice.
