An American who fled the Soviet Union in the 1970s and built a $200 million canned-food empire is calling on President Donald Trump to help rescue his company after Russian authorities seized the business and its assets, according to reports.
Leonid Smirnov of Los Angeles, California, told the New York Post he is racing to save his company, Glavprodukt, which he started in 1999 and grew to become known as the Campbell’s of Russia.
Smirnov said what is happening to his company is “a raid under a government seizure and confiscation attempt.”
He also warned that if it could happen to him, it could happen to any of the hundreds of companies operating from the U.S. in Russia, especially after Russian President Vladimir Putin began targeting foreign businesses after he ordered troops to invade Ukraine.
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Over the past three years, nearly a dozen businesses have been put under the “temporary management” of Russian authorities, and Glavprodukt was the first to be targeted.
Glavprodukt has become known in Russia for its canned soups, vegetables, fish and meats.
The company was also a crucial piece of Smirnov’s empire, which includes a 14,000-square-foot, $20 million mansion once rented by Paris Hilton in Los Angeles.
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Smirnov told the Post that in October 2024, three strangers showed up at headquarters to take over the business, and according to the entrepreneur, they were sent to the business on Putin’s orders.
The orders demanded that Glavprodukt and Smirnov’s other assets under his American company, Universal Beverage, be placed under “temporary” management by Russian authorities.
Smirnov claims his company has lost as much as 30% of its value since Russian authorities took over the business, which employed 1,000 workers between three factories.
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In addition to losses, Russia’s top prosecutor, over the past month, has accused Smirnov of illegally siphoning millions of dollars to the U.S., as well as working with the U.S. toward the “strategic defeat” of Russia.
A court in Russia also ordered that cash and assets connected to Glavprodukt, be seized, all in an effort to force Smirnov to sell his company at a much lower price than its worth.
FOX Business has reached out to Glavprodukt for comment.
Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was interviewed by Matthew Boyle of Breitbart News, when the former was asked about Russians seizing a number of Western companies.
Boyle noted that in October, Russians took the first American company, Glavprodukt, which is owned by Universal Beverage, before asking if that was anything Rubio and his team could use to pressure the Russians in negotiations.
“Well, that’ll be part of a conversation,” Rubio said, before noting that before anything can happen, the embassy in Moscow has to function.
He continued, saying once the embassy is functional, the State Department will invite Russia to talk.
“There are opportunities to work together, and obviously that’s going to entail talking about not just Russian assets that have been seized by the Europeans or the U.S. or what have you, but also American companies that have been hurt,” Rubio said. “So that’ll have to be broad – part of a broader conversation about how to reset our relations.”
Still, Smirnov is fearful his company will not exist by the time the U.S. and Russia reset their relations.
In the meantime, he told the Post, he wants Trump to step in and tell Putin American-owned businesses are off limits.
“I am asking President Trump to get involved and save my company, save all other American companies,” he said.
