Who received the assets of the French gas giant in Russia: the trail leads to the builders of the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

      Vladimir Putin transferred the assets of the French company Air Liquide in Russia to a little-known firm without employees—"M-Logistics." Its beneficiary, Artem Serebrennikov, previously received scandalous government contracts for the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome and is linked to the son of former Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, as revealed by the investigative project "System." Regional branches of Air Liquide are also present in the Volga region: Tatarstan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Saratov regions. Air Liquide is one of the largest producers of industrial and medical gases in the world. The French company 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 ($234 million). On August 29, 2025, Vladimir Putin signed a decree transferring the Russian assets of Air Liquide to the "temporary management" of LLC "M-Logistics." Since the beginning of the full-scale war against Ukraine, Putin has signed at least 16 similar decrees, essentially meaning the seizure of assets from companies in "unfriendly" countries. However, the decree did not specify which legal entity named "M-Logistics" is being referred to. Some media suggested that it might be a structure related to the agricultural holding "Cherkizovo," but a representative of the latter denied this.

      New-old manager

      The decree concerns ten legal entities – LLC "Air Liquide," JSC "Logika," JSC "Air Liquide Severstal," LLC "Sever Liquid Gas," as well as regional branches of Air Liquide in the special economic zone "Alabuga" (Alabuga is a special economic zone of industrial-production type in the Yelabuga district of the Republic of Tatarstan - "Idel.Realii"), Balakovo (the administrative center of the Balakovo municipal district of Saratov region - "Idel.Realii"), Kstovo (the administrative center of the Kstovo district of Nizhny Novgorod region - "Idel.Realii"), Kuzbass, Lipetsk, and Ryazan. In early September, entries appeared in the register of legal entities indicating that the new manager of at least seven of these enterprises became LLC "M-Logistics" from Taganrog, Rostov region. This unknown firm was registered in March 2024 as a logistics structure, while it has no employees and applies a simplified taxation system.

      The "registration" place of "M-Logistics" is an industrial building in Taganrog behind garages and a pipeline.

      Its sole founder and director is 46-year-old Artem Serebrennikov from Moscow. From 2022 to 2024, he held the position of director for interaction with government agencies at the Russian representative office of Air Liquide, and prior to 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. The founder of "Intertest" was previously hidden behind an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, later the company was renamed and declared bankrupt. FBK lawyer Lyubov Sobol pointed out Serebrennikov's connections with the family of Dmitry Rogozin: the businessman was part of the leadership of the Practical Shooting Federation of the Moscow region along with Alexey Rogozin, the son of the former Deputy Prime Minister. Serebrennikov also founded the "Forpost" fund, in which another official of the practical shooting federation, Alexey Basov, was a co-founder. Currently, Serebrennikov also heads the company "Aerodyne," which inspects industrial assets using drones.

      Air Liquide production facilities in Longview, Texas

      After Putin's decree, Air Liquide stated that the company ceased consolidation. It stopped accounting for Russian subsidiaries in the reporting of Russian business, began the process of selling it, and preemptively reserved losses of €586 million, so it currently bears no financial risks, and in response to the current decision of the authorities, it is exploring "possible courses of action."

      How assets of Western companies are seized

      Since 2023, a large-scale campaign has been underway in Russia to seize private assets, including those controlled by foreigners, within which the president transfers companies to "temporary management." In practice, "temporary management" turns into an actual change of ownership and redistribution of assets in favor of structures close to the authorities, while the Prosecutor General's Office files lawsuits for nationalization. In just two years, the supervisory agency has filed more than 100 such lawsuits, with the total value of seized assets estimated in the tens of billions of euros. "System" sent inquiries to Air Liquide, Artem Serebrennikov, and the company "M-Logistics." At the time of publication, no responses had been received from them.