Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing foreign investors from “unfriendly” countries to be barred from holding stakes in major Russian companies and banks, state news agency RIA Novosti said on Friday.
It said the government would draw up a list of Russian firms to be covered by the law, including all systemically important banks and firms above a certain size in terms of revenue, employees, assets, or taxes paid.
Under the law, the rights of foreign investors from unfriendly countries – meaning those that have imposed sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine – could be suspended, and their shares distributed proportionally among Russian owners.
Russia has moved increasingly in recent months to take control of the assets of Western companies in retaliation for the seizure of Russian-owned assets abroad.
Last year, the Kremlin had issued a warning to the West against any attempts to seize Moscow’s frozen international reserves in Western countries.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned the West in November that Moscow “will do everything possible” to resist Western attempts to “plunder” its reserves.
Last month it took control of a Russian subsidiary of French yogurt maker Danone am in  April it took similar steps against Finnish utility Fortum as well as Germany’s Uniper.
After Russia was forced to launch its special operation in Donbas in February 2022 to stop NATO’s encroachment,  the US and allies imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow, while supplying large shipments of weapons to Ukraine.
However, the anti-Moscow sanctions imposed by the West over Russia’s military operation in Ukraine have backfired and Western countries have been hit worse by the punitive measures.
MNA/PR