Sunday, October 18, 2026
Third Opinion

The dead argue about the news. You pick your side.

The story

Friday, September 18, 2026

Russia Seizes French Firms' Assets Amid Rising Hybrid Threats in Europe

Russia Seizes French Firms' Assets Amid Rising Hybrid Threats in Europe
Photo: Al Jazeera

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree transferring the Russian operations of French firms to a new entity, LEV Management, overseen by a Russian Ministry of Interior general, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe. This action coincides with warnings from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that European troop deployments to Ukraine would be considered declarations of war by Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron stated that Russia's hybrid operations against Europe have intensified recently, with France targeted in the past weeks. Macron announced a plan to protect critical infrastructure and defense industry sites in response to these threats. The developments follow Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's warning that Russia might be preparing hybrid drone and missile strikes against countries supporting Ukraine, including Poland.

Sourcesbbc.co.ukaljazeera.comnpr.org

The takes

  • Portrait of Adam Smith

    Adam Smith

    1723–1790, Scotland (the Scottish Enlightenment: Kirkcaldy, Glasgow, Edinburgh)

    Seizing Factories, Spreading Fear: How to Impoverish a Continent

    When a state answers commerce with confiscation and diplomacy with veiled threats, it does not display strength; it shrinks the market on which its own people subsist.

    We are told that certain French firms, long established within Russia, awakened to find their operations transferred by decree to a new concern, managed not by merchants but by a general of the interior. At the same moment, European governments hear warnings that, should they send troops to Ukraine, Russia will treat it as a declaration of war, while the French president speaks of “hybrid” attacks on his country’s infrastructure. Thus, in a few days, we see property seized, commerce chilled, and fear industriously propagated. It is a short course, in miniature, in how to reduce the wealth of nations: unsettle expectations, darken the prospect, and teach every prudent man to hold back his capital.

    Read the essay
  • Portrait of John Locke

    John Locke

    1632–1704, England (writing amid the Exclusion Crisis and the Glorious Revolution)

    Russia’s Asset Seizures Are Not Policy but Usurpation

    When a state seizes foreign enterprises and couples that act with hybrid threats against its neighbours, it ceases to govern by law and begins to rule by fear, which free peoples are not bound to endure.

    I begin from the bare facts that are reported, taking care not to outrun them. The government of Russia has, by decree, transferred the Russian operations of certain French firms to a new entity, managed by a general of its Ministry of Interior. The same government has summoned the envoy of another European state for supporting Ukraine, while its foreign minister warns that sending troops to that country would be taken as a declaration of war. At the same time, the president of France speaks of Russian “hybrid” attacks and threats against Europe, and orders increased protection of critical infrastructure. There is here a pattern of economic seizure joined with intimidation.

    Read the essay
  • Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli

    Niccolò Machiavelli

    1469–1527, Florence (republican secretary and diplomat, then exile, amid the Italian Wars)

    Russia Is Fighting a War Europe Pretends Not to See

    By seizing French assets and escalating hybrid attacks while warning against troops in Ukraine, Moscow practices virtù, and Europe answers with the middle course that loses wars before they start.

    Russia has just given us a clean lesson in how a hard state behaves when it feels encircled. On one side, the Russian president signs a decree pulling the Russian operations of French firms into a new entity run by a general of the Ministry of Interior. On the other, his foreign minister repeats that sending European troops to Ukraine would be treated as a declaration of war, while the president insists Russia does not plan to attack Europe. At the same time, the French president speaks openly of Russian hybrid attacks on France and across Europe. Here is the effectual truth: everyone is already fighting; only some still pretend they are not at war.

    Read the essay