Carlsberg has severed all ties with its business in Russia and refuses to enter into a deal with the Russian government that would make the asset seizure legitimate, the brewer’s new chief executive said on Tuesday, 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 the local brewery the following month.

“They stole our business”

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

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.

Aarup-Andersen said that after several interactions with Baltika management and the Russian authorities in July, Carlsberg was unable to find any acceptable solution to the situation.

“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.

Competitor Heineken sold its operations for one euro

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.

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.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time that Western investors and companies were “more than welcome” in Russia, but some of them stopped paying salaries altogether or simply decided to leave the country with huge losses.