Russian authorities raid Ikea office

Russian authorities have raided an office of the Swedish furniture company Ikea just outside Moscow, hours after the European Union and US stepped up their trade sanctions against Russia.

On Friday, the furniture retailer confirmed that Russia's Investigative Committee - its equivalent of the US FBI - had conducted a search of its premises in Khimki, to the northwest of Moscow, in connection with a legal case over land.

"Ikea Russia is co-operating with the investigative committee," the company said, adding that the raid was on an office belonging to Ikea Mos, its shopping centre company.

However, on Friday, analysts questioned whether the timing of the move indicated a political motivation.

"The Swedish government has been one of the leading opponents of Russian policy towards Ukraine, and a supporter of sanctions," said Timothy Ash, head of emerging markets research at Standard Bank. "I wonder if this fits into the same kind of action that other Western companies have seen in Russia [for example] with various Western fast food outlets suffering greater regulatory oversight all of a sudden."

Ikea has had problems in Russia before. In 2010, it fired two senior executives based in the country for ignoring bribery by a subcontractor. The controversy sparked a rare public comment from Ingvar Kamprad, the company's octogenarian founder, who admitted that Ikea had "wandered off course".

Russia has become one of Ikea's biggest markets and the Swedish company now operates 14 stores, with plans to open five or six more. Revenues from the country reached Rbs76.4bn ($2bn) in 2012-13 and Ikea's Russian head said earlier this year that the group planned to invest €2bn in its operations by 2020.

Earlier this week, Peter Agnefjall, Ikea's chief executive, said the company was in Russia for the "very long term" despite the impact of sanctions and the fallout over Russia's creeping invasion of Ukraine.

Since the Ukrainian conflict began, Carl Bildt, Sweden's foreign minister, has been one of the most vocal European critics of Russia's actions. However, on Friday, he declined to comment on the raid on Ikea.

Russian media outlets suggested that it was in connection with a land dispute dating back to the construction of Ikea's Khimki store in 2007. A group of collective farmers had challenged Ikea's right to the land used but, in the most recent round of arbitration, a Moscow court sided with Ikea.

Additional reporting by Courtney Weaver in Moscow

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