The largest foreign company established in Russia, Leroy Merlin is the subject of much criticism, especially since, as L’Express revealed on February 20, it has never left the country. Nicknamed “Leroy Kremlin” by its detractors, the northern brand has, since its establishment on Russian soil in the early 2000s, concluded several contracts with organizations linked to the Russian state. In 2016 and 2017, Leroy Merlin Vostok, the name of its local subsidiary, signed two contracts with the “Planernoïe” hotel complex, belonging to the Russian presidency, according to the “Zakoupki” calls for tenders site consulted by L ‘Express.
In 2017, Leroy Merlin was also the sole respondent to a call for tenders for 47,346 euros from the Moscow Country Club, a five-star hotel located 13 kilometers from Moscow. The Russian subsidiary of the northern brand delivered DIY and gardening equipment to this luxury complex which belongs to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On its website, the organization founded in 1921 presents itself as a “platform” that Russian and foreign diplomats use for “effective dialogues outside conventional diplomatic spaces”.
Contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense
Beyond civilian state agencies, Leroy Merlin also served the Russian Defense Ministry in July 2017, three years after Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea. According to the contract consulted by L’Express, Leroy Merlin delivered equipment to the engineering and technical center of this ministry. No details are given on the nature of the goods. At the end of December 2016, Leroy Merlin Vostok was also the sole respondent to the call for tenders from the state company Gamma to supply 8,378 euros of computer equipment, delivered to the technical and scientific center of Rostov-on-Don, about a hundred kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
In 2008, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Gamma, which, according to its website, carries out “special work” in the interests of the FSB, the Russian intelligence service, had been included in the “list of strategic enterprises and strategic joint stock companies”. On its site, in 2016, this company prided itself on providing jamming, listening and radio interception systems or metal detectors. And to specify that, by an order of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation (2009), the company was “entrusted with the functions of the main organization for combating foreign technical intelligence. “
More than 300 million euros paid to Russian taxes
At the time, the export to Russia of dual-use products (products and technologies designed for civilian use and likely to be diverted for military purposes) had been banned by the EU. The Gamma company was then sanctioned, in 2023, by the United States, Canada and Ukraine, for its participation in the Russian invasion.
In 2021 – the last year in which the Russian subsidiary published its accounts – Leroy Merlin Vostok achieved a turnover of 4.42 billion euros. It then paid 308 million euros in taxes to the Russian Federation. The following year, according to Forbes Russia estimates, it achieved a turnover of 5.29 billion euros. Growing 16% compared to 2021.
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