Russia responds to Western sanctions. In the future it should be possible to place foreign assets under state control. Putin opposes “unfriendly acts” by the West.
A new decree from Russian President Vladimir Putin allows for temporary control of foreign assets, according to a Russian media report, according to state news agency TASS. The decree therefore explicitly mentions the Russian division of the German energy supplier Uniper and assets of the Finnish Fortum Oyj.
Placing the Russian subsidiaries of Uniper and Fortum Oyj under state supervision is a necessary response to the threat of nationalization of Russian assets abroad, a decree published Tuesday said. However, Uniper had already written off its shares in the Russian subsidiary before the coercive measure.
Moscow: Russian asset freeze ‘unfriendly’
Moscow has described the freezing of Russian assets in the West in response to the war of aggression against Ukraine as an “unfriendly act contrary to international law”. Should the Russian state, Russian companies or individuals abroad be expropriated, or even endangered, Moscow will take control of companies coming from the foreign country in question, the decree said.
The Uniper case concerns the 83.73 percent stake in the Russian subsidiary Unipro. For a long time, Uniper made money from natural gas supplies from Russia to Germany. After deliveries stopped last year, the company ran into problems and was nationalized. However, the group wanted to sell its Russian activities even before the war.
Uniper confirms Russian takeover
The Düsseldorf utility company confirmed on Wednesday that the Unipro subsidiary has been placed under state control. Uniper has taken note of the decision and is monitoring it, the group said. Uniper has had no operational control over Unipro since the end of 2022.
As for the balance sheet, Unipro has been deconsolidated since the end of 2022 and is almost fully written off. Unipro operates five power plants in Russia with a capacity of more than eleven gigawatts and employs approximately 4,300 people.
The Finnish company Fortum said it had not yet received official confirmation from the Russian authorities. Fortum check the situation. The decree apparently does not provide for expropriation, but the exact consequences are unclear. At the end of 2022, Fortum had its Russian company on its books with 1.7 billion euros.
Source: Krone
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