When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022, a silent offensive in the back besides began. Under the slogan "National Interest Protection", the state-owned authorities in Moscow began to take over the wealth of Western-related companies step by step: automobile factories, breweries, retail chains and even chocolate factories. According to fresh Gazieta of Europe and The Insider, since March 2022, the courts and prosecutors have occupied 411 companies with a value of more than 2.5 trillion rubles – more than 4 times as much as Russia gained from pledge privatization in the mid-1990s. Technically, most of these assets should be placed on open auctions. In practice, the best bits are taken over by alleged "trusted investors": people loyal to the Kremlin, frequently with a colourful – not to say criminal – biography. 1 of them is Sergei Lałakin, ps. Łuczok and at the same time the leader of the OPG "Podolska", who took over the assets of the French electrotechnical concern Legrand, leaving Russia. Moreover, Lałakin IEK's holding company is preparing for the stock marketplace debut and the youngest boy of Łuczok – Maxim – develops his father's interests in the European Union, representing IEK in the Baltic countries.
