Russia has announced that it is temporarily taking control of the assets of Finnish energy group Fortum and German company Uniper, writes Reuters.
On Tuesday, the 25th of April, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order allowing the state to take control of the assets of two European companies in Russia. Fortum stated that it is looking into the incident, while Uniper and the German Finance Ministry have not yet commented.
The new order is seen as a kind of retaliation by Russia for freezing its foreign assets.
Moscow has reacted furiously to announcements by the G7 countries that they are considering an almost complete cessation of exports to Russia,
while many other countries are calling for the expansion of sanctions against Russia. The European Union is evaluating the possibilities of using the frozen Russian funds for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Uniper owns 83.73% of Unipro, which operates five power plants in Russia with a total capacity of more than 11 gigawatts. The company has approximately 4,300 employees in Russia.
Fortum’s Russian branch consists of seven thermal power plants in the Ural region and Western Siberia. Together with local partners in Russia, Fortum also owns a portfolio of wind and solar parks. At the end of 2022, their value was estimated at 1.7 billion euros.
The order states that Russia needs to act urgently to respond to the actions of the US and other countries, which do not comply with international laws and are unfriendly. Both companies, which tried to leave the Russian market, were transferred to the management of the government property agency Rosimushchestvo.
Russia’s state bank VTB announced this week that it should consider taking over the assets of foreign companies, returning them only when international sanctions are lifted.
Fortum has previously indicated the risk of confiscation.
Meanwhile, Rosimushchestvo has announced that the assets of other foreign companies could also come under Russian management.
In order to sell assets, companies from unfriendly countries, as Russia calls countries that have imposed sanctions, need permission from the government and, in some cases, the president.