You Won't Believe Who Now Owns It

Sep 19, 2026 Jason Jay Smart:

Putin is running out of easy money to finance the war and keep the Kremlin elite loyal, so Moscow is reaching for assets it never created.

Nestl and Auchan are now caught in Russia's latest corporate seizure, with valuable businesses being shifted toward politically connected insiders as the cost of protecting Putin's system keeps rising.

Russia has found more money for the war, but the way Moscow is spending it is creating new problems faster than it solves old ones.

Ukrainian strikes are damaging refineries, airbases, drone units and air defenses while fuel is diverted from farms, trained specialists are pulled into infantry roles, and rising losses force the Kremlin to spend even more simply to keep existing systems functioning.