FILE PHOTO: A woman walks along a bridge, with the Moscow City business centre and the Kremlin wall seen in the background, on a sunny day in Moscow, Russia, February 24, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo
(Reuters) - Russian prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against the owner of U.S.-owned Glavprodukt, a company seized by Moscow in October, accusing him of illegally withdrawing around $15.5 million from Russia over the last two years, the RBC news outlet reported.
President Vladimir Putin decreed in October 2024 that Glavprodukt and other assets ultimately owned by U.S. company Universal Beverage and Leonid Smirnov be placed under the Russian state's "temporary management", giving Moscow control over the running of the business.
The General Prosecutor's lawsuit, filed on March 5, contained no details, beyond naming the defendants as Smirnov, Universal Beverages and other companies.
The RBC business daily, citing unnamed sources, said it was based on the allegation that Smirnov and the foreign companies controlled by him had moved around 1.38 billion roubles ($15.46 million) out of Russia from 2022 to 2024.
Smirnov could not immediately be reached for comment.
Smirnov previously told Reuters that he has completely lost control of Glavprodukt, the largest maker of canned food in Russia, since the seizure, and accused the new bosses of presiding over a drop in sales.
RBC cited a source as saying that Smirnov had sought to block the Russian state's takeover management of his company and issued written instructions to employees not to cooperate with Rosimushchestvo, the federal property management agency.
($1 = 89.2500 roubles)
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
