A 32-year-old nephew of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov was appointed new head of the Russian subsidiary of the Danone company after the Kremlin ordered the temporary nationalization of the French dairy company in Russia.

After Russia invades Ukraine in 2022 many western companies left Russia and some important assets were placed under state management with close allies of President Vladimir Putin gaining control.

According to a decree signed by Putin on Sunday, the Russian state took control of Danone’s Russian subsidiary along with Carlsberg’s stake in a brewery.

Yakub Zakriev, Chechnya’s deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture, took over as CEO of Danone Russia on Tuesday, according to leaked documents.

His appointment was confirmed by Akhmed Dudayev, Chechnya’s Minister of National Policy, Foreign Relations and Information.

“His selection as general manager of Danone Russia shows that representatives of the team of the president of Chechnya and hero of Russia Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov are talented and successful managers”, Dudaev wrote on Telegram.

“He has vast professional experience in the most responsible positions”, Dudayev added. Vedomosti newspaper reported that Zakriev has served in the Chechen government on and off since 2013 in various capacities.

Zakriev is the son of Zhulai, one of Kadyrov’s older sisters, and studied economics at Moscow State University.

His appointment is another indication of the extent of the asset transfer ongoing in Russia after the war in Ukraine, which caused the biggest crisis in Moscow’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

It still shows Kadyrov’s significant influencethe son of former Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in 2004 in a bomb attack in the capital Grozny.