Putin orders seizure of companies that fail to fulfil defence contracts
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing companies that fail to fulfil state contracts during martial law to be placed under external management.
Source: The Moscow Times, an independent Amsterdam-based news outlet
Details: The document states that in such cases, shareholders are deprived of control and the functions of the head of the company are transferred to a structure proposed by Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The decision applies to companies in the aviation and shipbuilding sectors that produce civilian goods, their contractors, as well as manufacturers of military equipment working with foreign clients.
The Russian authorities have intensified efforts to confiscate private property since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine.
Russia's Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov said that the authorities have nationalised assets worth RUB 2.4 trillion (over US$26.5 billion). In 2024 alone, Russia seized nearly 70 companies with a total revenue of RUB 807.6 billion (over US$8.9 billion) and assets worth RUB 544.7 billion (over US$6 billion).
The largest of these include companies belonging to the former owner of Yugra Bank, Alexei Khotin (over RUB 100 billion – more than US$1.1 billion), the car dealer Rolf (RUB 68 billion – over US$750 million) and the Chelyabinsk Electrometallurgical Plant (RUB 61 billion – around US$680 million).
Background:
Russia plans to complicate or completely block the return of assets to foreign companies that left the country after the start of the full-scale war.
Putin stated that companies which "slammed the door" and left the Russian market will not be allowed to buy back their assets at low prices or reclaim their former market positions.
Russian business representatives met with Robert Agee, the President and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, to discuss the lifting of sanctions in certain sectors of the economy.
US President Donald Trump's special envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, held closed-door talks in Switzerland on the possible supply of Russian gas to Germany via Nord Stream 2.
The United States and Russia are discussing the possibility of economic cooperation in the Arctic, including natural resource exploration and the use of new trade routes.
Putin ordered his Cabinet of Ministers to prepare for the return of Western companies to the Russian market.
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