On April 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law on the temporary seizure of the assets of the United States and “adjoining countries” in the event of the confiscation of the property of Russian legal entities and individuals abroad. Document published on the portal of legal information. The assets will be placed under temporary management.
We are talking about movable and immovable property, securities, shares in the capital of companies and property rights. The Federal Property Management Agency will be the interim manager, but, according to the decree, the president can appoint another one, including at the suggestion of the department.
A list of property has also been determined, which, according to the decree, is already being transferred under temporary management. The share of the German company Uniper in Unipro (83.73%) and two blocks of securities in the Finnish Fortum (69.8807% of Fortum Russia and 28.3488% of Fortum Holding) appear there.
It is noted that such a decision was made “in connection with the need to take urgent measures in response to unfriendly and contrary to international law actions of the United States and foreign states and international organizations that have joined them.”
After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the United States, the European Union and their allies imposed sanctions against Moscow, due to which $300 billion turned out to be frozen reserves of the Central Bank, as well as the accounts and property of some Russians. In April, one of the German publications, citing unpublished documents of the European Commission, reported that it had encountered obstacles in trying to find a way to transfer assets to the Russian Federation to support the Ukrainian economy. Allegedly, these reserves may be inviolableand after the end of hostilities, they will need to be returned to Russia.
