MOSCOW, November 6. /TASS/. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev pointed to the record decline of Japan Tobacco after the company’s Russian assets were transferred to external management, quipping that "smoking kills."
"Japan Tobacco’s stock plunged by a record 19.3% after its Russian assets were placed under temporary administration managed by a Russian firm following the Russian president’s decree," Medvedev commented on the negative price chart of the company from Japan, a jurisdiction that is unfriendly to Russia, in an English-language post on his account on X.
"That’s something," he wrote. "And smoking kills anyway," he added.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed to transfer the stakes held by international tobacco conglomerate Japan Tobacco Inc. (JTI) in Russian manufacturing facilities to the temporary management of JSC Industrial Assets. Specifically, the decision affected the stakes in Donskoy Tabak, Pereslavl-Tabak, JTI Yelets, and Kres Neva.
JTI, one-third of which is owned by the Japanese government, is the world’s third-largest tobacco manufacturer and has operated in Russia since 1999. The company has become the country’s largest tobacco manufacturer. JTI’s product portfolio includes the international cigarette brands Winston, Mevius, Camel, Sobranie, Glamour, and LD, as well as the Russian brands Russky Stil, Petr I, and Troika.
The Russian presidential decree "On the Temporary Management of Certain Property," adopted in April 2023, established a mechanism for the temporary management of assets belonging to entities from unfriendly countries in response to the seizure of assets or restrictions on the property rights of Russian owners abroad.