Two Baltika beer executives arrested on suspicion of transferring Russian brands to Carlsberg

Two top managers of the brewing company Baltika, which was owned by Danish company Carlsberg until Vladimir Putin placed Baltika under “temporary management”, have been arrested on suspicion of large-scale fraud. They’re suspected of transferring the rights from the Russian company to Carlsberg.

Reportedly, the detainees are Baltika president Denis Sherstennikov and vice president Anton Rogachevsky.

According to investigators, several Baltika executives damaged the company by acting in the interests of the Danish Carlsberg Group. The investigation believes that even before Vladimir Putin’s decree to transfer Baltika to the Federal Property Management Agency, “some shadowy processes” were underway.

Fontanka alleges that foreign structures affiliated with Carlsberg allegedly consistently obtained the rights to lease the Russian Baltika brands, which are also produced by some enterprises abroad. According to Fontanka, the rights were transferred for 40 years at a time. Additionally, after Putin’s decree, the lease of the Zatecky Gus beer brand, a brand developed by Russian marketing specialists, was retroactively formalized.

The investigation estimates the damage to Baltika at 100 million rubles ($1.1 million). Fontanka sources called this criminal case “part of the artificial preparations before the protracted and, apparently, international clarification of relations with Carlsberg regarding Baltika’s brands - native and licensed.”

Baltika produces products under the brand names Baltika, Tuborg, Kronenbourg 1664, Somersby, Seth & Rileyʼs Garage, Holsten, Zatecky Gus, LAV, and others.

In March 2022, following the start of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, Carlsberg Group announced its intention to leave the Russian market. At the end of June 2023, Carlsberg signed an agreement to sell its Russian business, Baltika. But on July 16, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the de facto nationalization of the Danish company’s stake in Baltika. It was transferred “to the temporary management of Rosimushchestvo”. Carlsberg CEO Jakob Orup-Andersen later said that the Russian authorities had “stolen” the company’s business in Russia.

In October, Carlsberg Group announced the termination of license agreements that allowed Baltika to produce, promote and sell all Carlsberg products, including international and regional brands. Baltika, in turn, sought through the court to impose interim measures against Carlsberg, including an injunction against the termination of licenses for the brands Tuborg, Kronenbourg, Seth & Rileyʼs Garage, and others.