Putin withdrew foreign investors from managing the Pulkovo airport

Putin withdrew foreign investors from managing the Pulkovo airport

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a decree on the creation of a holding company to manage the St. Petersburg Pulkovo airport. It will be completely Russian. All 100% of the shares of the Cypriot company Thalita Trading Limited, which previously managed the airport, will be transferred to his ownership.

Shares in Thalita Trading Limited were owned by the Russian bank VTB, the German company Fraport, the Qatari investment fund QIA and a consortium of investors with the participation of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), as well as the Mubadala company from the UAE and the private fund Baring Vostok.

The new holding “Vozdushnye vorota Severnoy stolitsy” (LLC “Holding VVSS”) has 100% Russian participation. Putin’s decree specifies that the nationalization of the airport is carried out in connection with “unfriendly actions of some foreign states and international organizations” and with “a threat to the national interests and economic security of Russia, which arose as a result of the violation of obligations by some foreign legal entities.”

The German company Fraport, which owned 25% of Thalita Trading Limited, told Deutsche Welle that it was investigating reports of the withdrawal of airport management rights from foreign investors. “First we need to verify this information and study what this will mean in the future for our participation in the St. Petersburg airport, which we have suspended since the beginning of the Russian war [в Украине]”, – said the press service of Fraport.

  • In April 2023, Vladimir Putin signed a decree that actually allows for the nationalization of the assets of foreign companies in Russia. According to statements in the Kremlin, the document was developed as a response to the seizure of Russian assets abroad.
  • In July, shares of foreign shareholders in the “Baltika” brewing company and the Danone concern were transferred to the temporary management of Rosymuschestvo. Yakub Zakriev, the nephew of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, became the general director of Danon Russia LLC.

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