Japan protested the transfer of Japan Tobacco's assets in Russia under external management The Japanese Foreign Ministry protested to the Russian ambassador in Tokyo Nikolai Nozderev regarding the decision to transfer the Russian assets of the international tobacco concern Japan Tobacco Inc to external management. (JTI), writes Kyodo. Yesterday it became known that Vladimir Putin signed an order on the transfer to external management of 100% of the shares of four companies - J.T.I. Donskoy Tobacco", "J.T.I. Althes", "Kers Neva" and "Petro". These are JTI plants in Rostov-on-Don, Yelts and St. Petersburg. Industrial Properties JSC was appointed as the external administrator. JTI, one third of which is owned by the Japanese government, is the third largest tobacco producer in the world and has been operating in Russia since 1999. According to TASS, the company is the largest producer of tobacco products in the country. JTI's products include the international cigarette brands Winston, Mevyus, Gamel, Sobrani, Zohar and LD, as well as the Russian brands Russian Style, Peter I and Troika.