{"id":244315,"date":"2025-02-22T06:42:13","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T06:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/22\/emboldened-kremlin-steps-up-efforts-to-seize-businesses-in-russia\/"},"modified":"2025-02-22T06:42:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T06:42:13","slug":"emboldened-kremlin-steps-up-efforts-to-seize-businesses-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/22\/emboldened-kremlin-steps-up-efforts-to-seize-businesses-in-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Emboldened Kremlin Steps Up Efforts to Seize Businesses in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/08\/multimedia\/00russia-nationalization-khcm\/00russia-nationalization-khcm-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Emboldened Kremlin Steps Up Efforts to Seize Businesses in Russia\" title=\"Emboldened Kremlin Steps Up Efforts to Seize Businesses in Russia\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After the fall of Communism, Russia ushered in capitalism by selling off billions of dollars in state assets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, 30 years later, the Russian government is stepping up a wartime campaign to do the opposite: seizing private businesses, this time in the name of national security.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the last month, courts have ordered Russia\u2019s largest warehouse owner to be taken over by the state and also directed the nationalization of a major grain exporter. And in the most stunning case, prosecutors filed a lawsuit in January to seize Moscow\u2019s second-largest airport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The new spate of expropriation expands on the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2023\/12\/17\/world\/putin-companies-economy-boycott-elites-benefit-ukraine-war.html\" title=\"\">seizures of Western-owned businesses in Russia<\/a> after President Vladimir V. Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine began three years ago. But in these latest cases, the owners are Russian, a sign of how the Kremlin\u2019s push to seize control of the economy amid the war in Ukraine is reaching into ever more industries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Critics say the asset seizures are also undermining the last vestiges of Russia\u2019s rule of law. They have become \u201cchaotic\u201d and \u201cout of control,\u201d said Alexandra Prokopenko, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By seizing lucrative private enterprises, the Kremlin can put large sections of the economy either in state hands or under indirect control of Mr. Putin\u2019s associates, allowing the government to tailor industrial output to the needs of the war effort and also be in a position to introduce price controls. It also aligns with the Russian leader\u2019s goal of tightening his grip on domestic policy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Researchers at the London School of Economics have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/cepr.org\/voxeu\/columns\/expropriation-russian-style\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">identified<\/a> more than 200 Russian court rulings to nationalize private companies since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The courts, they said, mostly used claims that the companies violated 1990s privatization laws to seize them from businesses deemed \u201cunfriendly to the Kremlin regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Taken together, those seizures amount to \u201cthe largest redistribution of property in Russia since the privatization drive\u201d in the 1990s, said Alexander Kolyandr, a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Tuesday\u2019s talks with a U.S. delegation in Saudi Arabia, Russian officials appealed to the Trump administration\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/19\/world\/europe\/trump-russia-ukraine-putin-trump.html\" title=\"\">desire to find economic opportunities<\/a>, arguing that American companies stand to make billions if they re-enter Russia. The Russian official at the talks in charge of the business ties, however, made no mention of court rulings that have eroded property rights in Russia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a sign that the Kremlin was anticipating an influx of foreign businesses as part of the rapprochement with the United States, Mr. Putin on Friday ordered his government to lay down rules for the return of Western companies that left Russia after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. While Mr. Putin indicated that Moscow would welcome them back, he also made it clear that he wanted Russian companies to have \u201ccertain advantages\u201d over the foreign competitors as a payback for the Western sanctions that spurred the 2022 exodus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Putin personally spearheaded a campaign to take over landmark assets from foreign owners in the first months of the war. He signed several decrees in 2022 and 2023, first barring the foreign owners from selling their assets, then allowing the state to \u201ctemporarily take over\u201d Russian companies owned by individuals from \u201chostile nations.\u201d But he has since taken a back seat as property seizures became widespread across different sectors of the economy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The attempt to seize the Moscow airport, Domodedovo, is the latest salvo in a long-running feud with the majority owner, Dmitry Kamenshchik, a reclusive businessman who has not openly supported or opposed the government, and an indication that the Kremlin is serious about stepping up nationalization.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Domodedovo \u2014 which handled about as many passengers as Newark Liberty International Airport did in 2022 \u2014 is Russia\u2019s largest airport still in private hands. The Russian government has tried multiple times over the past two decades<strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\"> <\/strong>to take control of the airport, but this time it seems determined to succeed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The justification prosecutors are now using is that Mr. Kamenshchik is also a citizen of the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russian law bars foreign investors in what are considered \u201cstrategic sectors\u201d without special government permission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Kamenshchik has controlled the airport since privatizing it in the 1990s \u2014 in recent years through a Cypriot company \u2014 and authorities did not previously raise any concern about his citizenship.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Kamenshchik and an associate, prosecutors claimed, are \u201cpursuing the aggressive policies of Western countries aimed at inflicting a strategic defeat on the Russian Federation by damaging its economy,\u201d according to an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vedomosti.ru\/business\/articles\/2025\/01\/29\/1089095-domodedovo-pod-inostrannim-kontrolem\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">excerpt<\/a> from last month\u2019s lawsuit quoted by Russian business daily Vedomosti. It accused him of \u201csabotaging\u201d efforts to modernize the airport. Prosecutors also claimed the two businessmen siphoned off more than $180 million, at the current exchange rate, from Domodedovo\u2019s profits between 2021 and 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was not immediately clear if authorities were pursuing separate charges on those allegations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Kamenshchik\u2019s whereabouts were unclear; he is not reported to have left Russia. Efforts to reach him for comment through intermediaries and the airport\u2019s press office went unanswered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The court quickly froze the Russian assets of the company and of Mr. Kamenshchik and warned him and his partner against \u201cdestabilizing\u201d the operations at Domodedovo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The lucrative airport has long been in the cross hairs of law enforcement and powerful business interests with ties to the Kremlin. In 2011, Russian news media reported that Arkady Rotenberg, a childhood friend of Mr. Putin, was eyeing Mr. Kamenshchik\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Whatever high-level patronage Domodedovo\u2019s owner enjoyed in the past to stave off attacks from his competitors, the war in Ukraine clearly canceled it out, analysts said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDomodedovo used to be too big to swallow \u2014 and now it\u2019s not,\u201d said Mr. Kolyandr, the analyst. \u201cBefore the war, there probably were people in the government or close to the government who advocated against monopolizing the ownership of airport infrastructure. Now, state interests trump it all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The attempt to seize the airport is only the most prominent example of the nationalization effort. In a case that shook another sector of the economy, a Moscow court last month ordered that the assets of Raven Russia, the country\u2019s largest warehouse owner, be handed over to the state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It said Raven\u2019s $1 billion logistics terminals were \u201cstrategic assets\u201d bought without special government permission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russian prosecutors are required to assert that the assets they are seizing are strategic, even if they were never considered as such previously.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Raven Russia called the ruling \u201cunlawful and unfounded\u201d and pledged to appeal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last week, the court gave the green light to the seizure, citing the company owner\u2019s foreign residency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And in a third recent case, a court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don seized one of Russia\u2019s biggest grain exporters, a company called Rodnye Polya, from its billionaire owner Pyotr Khodykin.<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>The court said that Mr. Khodykin\u2019s residency in the United Arab Emirates placed a \u201cstrategic enterprise\u201d in foreign hands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rodnye Polya, which <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.audit-it.ru\/buh_otchet\/6165161667_ooo-rodnye-polya\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">posted<\/a> some $3 billion in revenues in 2023, runs a port in the city of Azov, on the Azov Sea, featuring 17 ships and hundreds of freight train cars. It was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kommersant.ru\/doc\/7480255\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">estimated<\/a> to be worth some $600 million at the end of 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Troubles started for Rodnye Polya a few months earlier: In the spring, Russia\u2019s agriculture oversight agency started blocking the company\u2019s shipments, saying they were failing quality control. Dozens of ships were stranded in ports, and some 80 percent of Rodnye Polya\u2019s exports were halted, according to the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/fsvps.gov.ru\/news\/sergej-dankvert-prigrozil-nedobrosovestnym-jeksporteram-vozvratom-jeksporthleba\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Khodykin, the company\u2019s owner, did not respond to a request for comment. He said the court had made a \u201cpolitical decision\u201d to seize his company in an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/gorodn.ru\/razdel\/novosti_kompaniy\/konflikty\/petr-khodykin-osporit-reshenie-suda-o-natsionalizatsii-ego-biznesa\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">interview<\/a> with local news media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIs there any point investing in a country where any asset can be expropriated years later?\u201d Mr. Khodykin asked in the interview. \u201cThen no other business can feel safe anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/22\/world\/europe\/russia-nationalization-airport.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the fall of Communism, Russia ushered in capitalism by selling off billions of dollars in state assets. Now, 30 years later, the Russian government is stepping up a wartime campaign to do the opposite: seizing private businesses, this time in the name of national security. In the last month, courts have ordered Russia\u2019s largest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/08\/multimedia\/00russia-nationalization-khcm\/00russia-nationalization-khcm-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8321,4252,15275,189833,164392,4332,133031,51011,14714,137131,209,202,37144,442,163598,128440],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244317,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244315\/revisions\/244317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}