Russian court seizes stake in bakery over ownership prosecutors say is 'extremist'

(Reuters) -A Russian court on Wednesday said it had seized 50% of shares in a wholesale bakery as part of interim measures in a lawsuit brought by state prosecutors that seeks to label the company's ultimate owners as extremist.

Moscow has placed around a dozen foreign-owned assets under state management since launching the full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022, and Russia's general prosecutor has stepped up the seizure of domestic assets through the courts this year.

The Rodniki District Court in the Ivanovo region northeast of Moscow said it had seized half of the shares of Russian company Rizhsky Khleb (or Riga Bread). That Russian unit forms part of a wider group of bakery assets owned by Latvian and Ukrainian citizens, the court said.

Rizhsky Khleb did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia's deputy prosecutor general filed a claim with the Rodniki court on Tuesday, the court said, arguing that the bakery association that includes Rizhsky Khleb be recognised as extremist over links to Ukraine.

In 2024, Russia passed a law allowing the seizure of property in Russia from people abroad who spread what Moscow considers false news about the army, incite extremist activity or call for sanctions against Russia.

(Reporting by Alexander MarrowEditing by Bernadette Baum)