The iconic brand has now completed its lengthy exit from the country for a symbolic €1 ($1.70), after Moscow clamped down on asset sales in retaliation for western sanctions.

The Dutch company, which also owns the Amstel, Birra Moretti and Tiger brands, took a €300 million ($506 million) loss as a result of the sale, which will see it transfer all of its remaining assets, including seven breweries, to Russia’s Arnest Group.

Arnest Group owns a major can packaging business and is the country’s largest manufacturer of cosmetics, households goods and metal packaging for the fast-moving consumer goods sector.

The multinational brewer, which also owns UK craft brewer Beavertown, has faced criticism for the slow pace of its exit in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

However, the company stated that the length of the process was due ensuring its 1800 employees in Russia were looked after.

The company said in a statement it had received the necessary approvals to finally sell its operations, completing a withdrawal process it initiated more than a year ago.

Heineken CEO Dolf van den Brink said “recent developments demonstrate the significant challenges faced by large manufacturing companies in exiting Russia”.

“While it took much longer than we had hoped, this transaction secures the livelihoods of our employees and allows us to exit the country in a responsible manner,” he added.

Heineken expects to incur a total loss of €300 million ($506 million) from the deal.

The company had announced in March 2022 it was quitting Russia, saying the business there was “no longer sustainable nor viable in the current environment”, but added it wanted to ensure an “orderly transfer” to a new owner.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a slew of multinational companies left the country, or announced plans to do so.

But over the past 18 months, the Kremlin has made it increasingly difficult for Western firms to sell their Russian assets.

It now also obliges them to pay a hefty fee to the Russian government on such sales.

Last month, the Russian state took control of rival beer brand Carlsberg’s stake in a local brewer, after a decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The decree stated that the government would “temporarily” manage the shares belonging to the Baltika brand.

Carlsberg announced in March it planned to sell the entirety of its operations in Russia, where it employed 8400 people.

By June, the brand said it had found an unnamed buyer for the business, more than a year after announcing its exit from the market due to the conflict in Ukraine.

However, following the presidential decree, Carlsberg said the sale was “highly uncertain”.

“The Carlsberg group has not received any official information from the Russian authorities regarding the presidential decree or the consequences for Baltika Breweries,” the company said in July.