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Russia has confiscated nearly 3.9 trillion rubles, or around $50 billion, worth of assets since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a report by Moscow-based law firm Nektorov, Saveliev and Partners.
The analysis found that Russian authorities have seized 102 private assets over the past three years. They spanned a variety of industries, and some were resold to owners including the state.
Targets included foreign and domestic companies, such as Danish brewer Carlsberg and French food giantDanone. The Kremlin has cited reasons ranging from corruption to extremism to justify the asset seizures.
In 2024, Russia’s federal budget received 132 billion rubles from property sales, per Russian news outlet Interfax. Roughly a quarter of that total came from the sale of Rolf, the country’s largest car dealership. The company was previously owned by the family of a Kremlin critic now living in exile.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in March that the government aims to raise at least 100 billion rubles from sales of seized assets this year.
The aggressive asset seizures come as signs emerge that Russia’s post-invasion economic resilience may be faltering as sweeping Western sanctions take hold. A recent S&P Global survey showed a sharp contraction in manufacturing activity in June.
Just last month, Russia’s economy minister, Maxim Reshetnikov, warned that the country was “on the brink” of a recession.
Russia’s GDP grew 1.4% in the first quarter of the year from a year ago, according to Rosstat, the country’s official statistics service. This is a steep slowdown from the 4.5% growth it posted in the fourth quarter of last year. In 2024, Russia’s economy grew 4.3% for the full year.
In January, a prominent Swedish economist said Russia could run out of liquid reserves as soon as this fall.
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