On Wednesday, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev mocked the Danish brewer Carlsberg (CARLb.CO) for believing it could leave Russia without facing consequences following Western sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
When President Vladimir Putin gave the federal government temporary management of the company’s majority ownership in the Russian brewer Baltika in July, Carlsberg CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen said on Tuesday that Russia had stolen the company’s business.
Carlsberg said it had severed all links with Baltika, canceled all license agreements, and refused to participate in a settlement with Moscow that would have legitimized the takeover. Russia maintains that the action does not alter the ownership structure.
As the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, Medvedev was formerly viewed as a liberal reformer but is now an extreme hawk. In a characteristically vulgar remark on Telegram, he made fun of the brewer.
“They abandoned everything in Russia for political reasons and refused to fulfill their obligations to Russian contractors, just like their brethren in the Western menagerie.”
“And they thought they’d be left alone,” he stated. “‘We give you sanctions and weapons to the Ukrainian regime, but don’t you touch our property, or at least let us sell it profitably’.”
The Danish business, like many other Western corporations pulling out of Russia, stopped investing in Russia immediately after the invasion and has been attempting to sell Baltika since last year.
Carlsberg had a 9.9 billion Danish crown ($1.4 billion) write-down on Baltika last year. The company employed roughly 8,400 people and operated eight breweries in Russia.
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