Since 2023, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia has nationalized 15 enterprises of the Military Industry

Since the beginning of 2023, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Russia has managed to turn 15 enterprises of the military-industrial complex (VPC) worth more than 333 billion rubles into state ownership. Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov stated this in an interview with “Kommersant”.

According to Krasnov, these are strategic enterprises that were illegally privatized, and in some cases came under the control of foreigners who “carried out a consistent policy of destroying them and damaging the country’s defense capabilities.” Foreign owners have not carried out “modernization and development of production for dozens of years, the income from the activity was mainly taken abroad”, says the Prosecutor General of Russia.

Earlier, Krasnov reported that the Russian prosecutor’s office through the courts achieved “restoration of state control over dozens of strategic enterprises” with a total cost of more than a trillion rubles.

The number of lawsuits about nationalization increased sharply during the two years of the war: in 2020 and 2021, the Prosecutor General’s Office filed three lawsuits each.

In 2023, the department filed 27 lawsuits to seize enterprises belonging to private companies. According to Novaya Gazeta Evropa and Transparency International – Russia, in 2023-2024, the Russian authorities asked for or successfully nationalized assets totaling more than one trillion rubles.

In February 2024, the Arbitration Court of the Sverdlovsk Region satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office for the transfer to the state ownership of the shares of three enterprises of the industrial group of the Chelyabinsk Electrometallurgical Combine (CHEMK): Serovsky Ferroalloy Plant, Chelyabinsk Electrometallurgical Combine and Kuznetskie Ferrosplavy company, the products of which are used for the needs of the Russian army.

After the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine and the introduction of sanctions in Russia, legislation was tightened. In particular, in 2022, a decree was passed prohibiting transactions with shares of foreigners in strategically important enterprises, primarily TEK. It is possible to carry out such transactions only with the permission of the president.

In 2023, a decree was signed on the temporary external management of some assets with foreign participation, and a decision was also made on a mandatory discount of 50% when selling Russian assets of foreigners and an additional contribution to the budget in the amount of 15%.

The decree, which allowed to temporarily control the assets of companies or individuals from unfriendly states, actually led to their nationalization. In 2023, 100% of the assets of the “Baltika” brewing company, 98% of which belonged to Carlsberg, and 100% of the Russian business of Danone were handed over to Rosymuschestva.