Russia: Russia to Seize Energy Assets from ‘Unfriendly’ European Countries

Dec 20, 2023 | Gabriel Gavin, Politico
View Original

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed decrees granting his government power to confiscate and forcibly sell off billions of dollars worth of assets belonging to European energy firms to new state-approved owners. In a decree published Wednesday, the Kremlin mandated the creation of new Russian-run companies to take over shares in the colossal Yuzhno-Russkoye oil and gas field, currently owned by Austria's OMV and Germany's Wintershall. The two European energy giants, both from countries that Moscow claims are "unfriendly" in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, together hold a 60 percent stake in the drilling site in Russia's icy far north.