RUSSIA – Political instability in Russia appears to have caused Danone stall on its planned takeover of Russian dairy group Wimm-Bill-Dann (WBD).

The arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the chief executive of oil firm YUKOS, preceded Danone’s decision to postpone talks, according to a story in the Financial Times.

The story cited unnamed sources close to the talks, although it did not give specific reasons for the postponement.

Both WBD and Danone officials are remaining tight-lipped about the buyout, and refused to comment on the latest developments, which followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to back the federal prosecutor in its investigation of YUKOS.

WBD has announced its sales volumes for the first nine months of 2003. The combined sales volume in dairy, juice and water segments increased 7.2% compared to the same period in 2002, while dairy sales volumes grew 5.7% to 740,900 tonnes.

The company also announced the launch of Lamber, a new brand of hard cheese, to be produced at its Rubtsovsk Dairy, based in the Altai region. It expects to invest $13 million (