Moscow threatens to “expand” the list of foreign companies targeted by “temporary” seizures of assets in Russia, in order to put pressure on the West.
The Kremlin on Wednesday threatened to “expand” the list of foreign companies targeted by “temporary” asset seizures in Russia, a way to apply pressure as the West mulls using frozen Russian assets abroad .
“If necessary, the list of companies can be expanded,” warned Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The remarks come as Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Tuesday approving the takeover of two Western energy groups, Finland’s Fortum and Germany’s Uniper, threatening to do the same with other companies in countries that would be tempted to seize and to use Russian assets abroad.
The EU is currently seeking to set up a plan to seize hundreds of billions of euros of Russian assets in Europe, but the project is “not simple” legally, according to Brussels.
“A response to the aggressive actions of unfriendly countries”
The main objective of the Russian decree “is to constitute a compensation fund for the possible application of countermeasures against the illegal expropriation of Russian assets abroad”, affirmed Dimitiri Peskov.
The announced seizures – “a response to the aggressive actions of unfriendly countries” – are “temporary”, he assured, and aim to “eliminate (potential) risks when the position of unfriendly countries will negatively affect our economy”.
According to the decree, the Russian subsidiaries of Fortum and Uniper, a former subsidiary of Fortum, since nationalized by Berlin after the stoppage of Russian gas deliveries are immediately affected by a seizure of their assets in Russia.
Rosimouchestvo, the Russian federal agency named “temporary manager”, clarified that “the decree does not deprive the owners of their property”, but it “means that the original owner no longer has the right to make management decisions.
This article is originally published on bfmtv.com
