Russia is trying administrative measures to stop the flight of Western brands from the country.

In Russia, all local assets of the German automobile concern Volkswagen have been arrested at the suit of the GAZ automobile plant. The Arbitration Court of the Nizhny Novgorod Region made the corresponding decision.

As follows from the court decision, the arrest was imposed as an "interim measure" in the framework of a lawsuit from a Russian car factory demanding to recover 15.6 billion rubles in damages from the German automaker.

GAZ claims that Volkswagen intends to leave the Russian market soon and therefore terminated the agreement on car assembly in Nizhny Novgorod. The Russian enterprise fears that the Germans will sell their assets to third parties and, therefore will not be able to compensate GAZ for its losses.

The court agreed with the arguments of GAZ and arrested all Russian assets of the Volkswagen Group, except for cash. The court also banned the Volkswagen Group Rus company from liquidating, reorganizing, and other registration actions.

It should be noted that the agreement on the assembly of Volkswagen cars in Nizhny Novgorod was concluded in 2011, and later it was extended until the end of 2025. But after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Volkswagen stopped assembly at a Russian plant and announced plans to leave the Russian market.