Russia warns it could seize more assets after move against Uniper, Fortum

New Delhi: The Kremlin has stated that it may seize even more Western assets as retaliation for foreign actions against Russian enterprises, after temporarily taking control of assets belonging to two European state-owned utilities, reported Reuters.

Late on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin issued an order giving Moscow control over the Russian assets of the German company Uniper (UN01.DE) and Finland’s Fortum (FORTUM.HE), both of which run power facilities there. Kremlin made it clear that the action may be undone.

The action against Uniper’s Russian division, Unipro (UPRO.MM), was under review, according to Uniper. Fortum stated that it was looking into the matter and that its Russian subsidiary had informed it that the company’s CEO had been changed and that the division had been placed under interim asset management, reported Reuters.

Moscow has reacted strongly to the news that the G7 countries are mulling an almost complete ban on exports to Russia, and many have urged for more stringent penalties to reduce Russia’s capacity to fight in Ukraine.

The European Union is considering utilising frozen Russian assets to reconstruct Ukraine in the meantime.

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, “the decree adopted is a response to the aggressive actions of unfriendly countries.” He added, “This initiative mirrors the attitude of Western governments towards foreign assets of Russian companies.”

Peskov also said, according to Reuters, that the main purpose of the decree is to form a compensation fund for the possible application of reciprocal measures in response to the illegal expropriation of Russian assets abroad

With inputs from agencies

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