President Putin Seizes Billionaire’s Car Dealership

According to The Russian Times, Russia's largest auto dealership was placed under temporary state management on Friday by President Vladimir Putin, a move that its founder claimed made the nation appear uninvestable but which the Kremlin said was motivated by business logic.

Established by Russian entrepreneur Sergei Petrov, Rolf is owned by a company headquartered in Cyprus and was among the first auto dealerships to open following the fall of the Soviet Union. Its seizure, which is detailed in a decree posted on a government website, follows Moscow's temporary takeover of a number of Western-owned assets this year in reaction to Western sanctions disrupting or freezing Russian assets.

The seizure of Rolf, which has historically sold a wide range of foreign-branded cars, marks the first time a prominent Russian business leader has been relieved of his property in this manner. Among those affected are the French dairy giant Danone and the Danish brewer Carlsberg. Russian authorities accuse Petrov, an Austrian, of smuggling money out of the country; he refutes these claims.

A small group of Russian businessmen, including Petrov, signed a letter in 2014 denouncing the harm done to East-West relations following Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine.

In 2019, Russian investigators began looking into Rolf, claiming it had purchased shares at exorbitant prices. Petrov refuted this claim and said it might have something to do with his political beliefs.

An 8-1/2 year prison sentence was handed down in September to a former senior manager of Rolf for his alleged involvement in an arrangement deemed to be an unlawful transfer of funds overseas.