President Russian Vladimir Putin ordered that Wintershall Dea and OMV be stripped of their multi-million-dollar stakes in gas drilling projects in the Russian Arctic.
According to the presidential decrees published late on Tuesday, the shares of OMV and Wintershall Dea in the Yuzhno-Russkoye field and in the Achimov projects must be reverted to newly created Russian companies.
“The presidential decree is further confirmation: Russia is no longer a reliable economic partner and is unpredictable, in every sense“said a spokesperson for wintershall in a written response to a Reuters query.
OMV He said he is reviewing the decree and could take further steps to preserve his rights.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a daily conference call with journalists on Wednesday that the decrees do not mean that Russia has embarked on the confiscation of assets of the so-called “unfriendly countries”.
“Companies leaving the market, selling or transferring assets, it all depends on the negotiations“, said. “But there has not been nor is there any asset confiscation process”.
The largest seizure of foreign assets in Russia by the Kremlin occurs after what Vladimir Putin has been considered a declaration of economic war by the West, due to the Russian decision to send thousands of troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian businessmen have taken control of some major Western assets in Russia, including Carlsberg’s eight breweries as well as Danone companies.
In the West, Russian state assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars have been frozen, as well as assets of Russian businessmen and investors. Germany last year took control of a major Russian-owned Schwedt oil refinery, which supplies 90% of the fuel to Berlin.
On the other hand, the Austrian bank Raiffeisen Bank Internationalone of the European banks most exposed to Russiadeclared on Tuesday that it was taking a nearly 28% stake in Austrian construction group Strabag, as both companies try to limit their ties with Russia.
(Additional reporting by Patricia Weiss in Frankfurt; editing in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)
Source: Gestion
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