Vladimir Putin has placed the Russian plant of international packaging manufacturer Aptar under the temporary management of a company headed by Yakub Zakriev, a nephew of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. A corresponding decree confirming the move was published Sept. 21. The measure applies to Aptar Vladimir LLC, with the 100% stake owned by France’s Aptar Europe Holding being transferred to temporary management. H&N JSC — formerly Danone Russia and now operating under the Logika Moloka (lit. “Milk Logic”) brand. Zakriev, a nephew of Kadyrov’s, has served as the company’s CEO since July 2023.
Aptar Vladimir’s financial statements, which have been reviewed by The Insider’s editorial team, indicate that the company remains highly profitable. Revenue totaled about 1.75 billion rubles in 2025, virtually unchanged from the previous year, while net profit rose about 7%, from 502 million rubles ($5.9 million) to 537 million rubles ($6.4 million). Its net profit margin was close to 31%.
The Vladimir plant manufactures plastic packaging products. Russian certification registries list lids, caps, and dispensers among its products. Aptar itself includes the Vladimir facility in its Beauty division and lists it among the group’s Russian manufacturing sites.
Aptar Europe Holding is the French subsidiary of U.S.-based AptarGroup. The group operates in more than 20 countries and reported sales of about $3.8 billion in 2025. Its Russian business has operated since 2003.
H&N JSC, which has now been given control of the Aptar plant, itself came under Russian government control through the same temporary-management mechanism. In July 2023, Putin placed Danone’s Russian business under the control of Rosimushchestvo, Russia’s federal property management agency. After that, Zakriev was appointed head of the company.
In March 2024, Putin removed the assets from temporary management, and Danone later sold its Russian business to Vamin R. As The Insider previously reported, citing an investigation by the investigative project Sistema, assets worth more than 1 billion euros ultimately went to structures linked to Kadyrov’s circle, with a significant portion of the purchase financed using money from the former Danone business itself.
Russia’s temporary management mechanism for foreign-owned assets has been in place since April 2023. Formally, the foreign owner retains legal ownership while a manager appointed by Russian authorities receives broad powers to run the business. In practice, the arrangement has already preceded foreign companies losing control of their Russian assets, as occurred with Danone. On Sept. 17, Putin used the same mechanism to place the Russian businesses of Auchan, Nestlé, and FM Logistic under the management of L.E.V. Management. The Insider found that at the time, the company was still listed on a registrar’s website among ready-made joint-stock companies being offered for sale — the price was 450,000 rubles ($5,340).
