Former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday mocked Danish beer maker Carlsberg after the company complained that its Russian business had been seized by authorities, Reuters reported.

The Danish group has been trying to sell its subsidiary Baltika in Russia since last year, following the example of many other Western companies that pulled out of the country after the attack on Ukraine.

However, after Carlsberg announced in June that it had found a buyer for its business, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the temporary seizure of the company’s stake in local brewery Baltika the following month.

“It’s quite clear that they stole our business in Russia and we’re not going to help them make it look legitimate,” Jakob Aarup-Andersen, who took over as Carlsberg’s CEO in September, said on Tuesday.

“We will not enter into agreements with the Russian government that in any way justify an illegal takeover of our business,” he said in a phone call with reporters after the company’s quarterly results were announced.

Earlier this month, Carlsberg retaliated by terminating the licensing agreements for its Russian brands that allowed Baltika to manufacture, market and sell all Carlsberg products in the country.

“When the grace period of these licenses expires, they will no longer be allowed to manufacture any of our products. Of course, I cannot guarantee that this will happen, but this is our expectation,” said Aarup-Andersen.

Dmytro Medvedev says that the brewer is part of the “menagerie” of the West

The former Russian president, once considered a liberal reformer, mocked the Danish company on his Telegram channel early Wednesday.

“Like their peers from the Western menagerie, they abandoned everything in Russia for political reasons (…), refused to fulfill their obligations to Russian clients and thought they would be left alone,” he said.

“We give you sanctions and weapons for the Ukrainian regime, but don’t touch our property or at least let us sell it profitably,” Medvedev paraphrased the alleged attitude of the West towards Russia.

Carlsberg had eight breweries and about 8,400 employees in Russia and last year wrote off 9.9 billion Danish kroner ($1.41 billion) on its books due to the loss of Baltika.

Numerous foreign companies have left Russia since the beginning of the war, with the Russian state deciding to allow the sale of domestic businesses only with a significant discount and payment of a special “exit” tax.

But the Russian authorities have recently begun to crack down on multinational corporations that want to stop operating in Russia, and in June the Kremlin prepared a decree allowing the confiscation of their assets.

In August, the Dutch brewery Heineken announced that it had completed its exit from Russia, selling its operations in that country to the Russian Arnest Group for a symbolic sum of one euro.

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