Kremlin Responds to Inquiry on Foreign Asset Management by Foreigners

Moscow, May 5 – Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, said that the possibility of transferring Russian assets to foreign companies under the temporary management of the Federal Property Management Agency, similar to a subsidiary of the Finnish Fortum, depends on each specific case. .

Earlier on Friday, the Finnish energy company Fortum informed Moscow that it did not agree to transfer its Russian subsidiary, PJSC Fortum, to the temporary management of the Federal Property Management Agency and is preparing to defend its rights.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last week signed a decree responding to the confiscation of Russian assets abroad and the restriction of property rights. The ordinance approved a list of foreign assets that, in response, are being transferred to the Federal Property Management Agency’s temporary administration. It included 83.73% of Unipro shares indirectly owned by the German government (through Uniper) and 98.23% of Fortum owned by the Finnish company Fortum. But the list can be expanded.

Fortum in Russia owns 98.23% in PJSC Fortum (formerly TGK-10) and about 30% in PJSC TGK-1 (the main shareholder is Gazprom Energoholding). The company has also been one of the largest investors in wind power in Russia. According to Fortum’s financial statements, at the end of 2022, 2,724 people worked in the Russian division of the company.