Inciedentally, Danone owns a plant in Russia called Bolshevik. There's a lot of contention as to just who owns all these (very profitable) Soviet brands and trademarks. E.g., who owns Cheburashka?:
On the Market
Back when Cheburashka was launched in the 1960s, creators would have found it hard to picture the ownership disputes that dog it today.
By Anna Malpas Published: April 2, 2004
It should come as no surprise that Japan, the country that fell for Hello Kitty, has also warmed to Cheburashka, a cuddly, furry animal dreamed up by Soviet children's author Eduard Uspensky and brought to life in the 1960s and 1970s in a series of endearingly clunky animated films. While few in the West have even heard of Cheburashka, in Japan, he (for Cheburashka is a he, despite his lack of gender indications) is fondly known as Chebi -- the hero of hundreds of fan sites, and a slogan on everything from stationery to T-shirts.
Found asleep in a crate of oranges, according to the story line, Cheburashka longs to join the Young Pioneers and helps build a House of Friendship for all the lonely animals in his town. Four films were made about Cheburashka's adventures and were even shown abroad, but never to any real success until they hit a public nerve several years ago in Japan.
All of a sudden, the low-tech Soviet animation, which barely hides the hands moving the puppets around, was no longer considered commercially viable. The creators of the simple character had to get savvy -- but in their haste to turn the Soviet toy into an international best seller, they found themselves embroiled in a most un-Soviet copyright dispute, the likes of which the producers who came out with the simple animations some four decades ago might never have imagined.
http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/04/02/101.html
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