Putin prohibits “unfriendly” investors from operations with strategic assets

Moscow, Aug 5 (.).- The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, today prohibited by decree until the end of the year investors from countries “unfriendly” with Russia any type of operations with their shares in strategic companies, in particular, in the country’s energy and banking sector.

The decree specifies that the prohibition, both for legal and natural persons, extends to all strategic companies and joint-stock companies, and their subsidiaries, as well as the Sakhalin gas and Jariaga oil projects, in the Far East and Northwest of Siberia, respectively.

The presidential provision also affects transactions with the shares of users of all the large deposits of , gas, , as well as uranium, quartz, , cobalt, tantalum, niobium, beryllium, , diamonds, , lithium and platinum metals.

In addition, Putin ordered the Government and the Central Bank of Russia to prepare within ten days the list of companies and banks that will have prohibited operations with shares of investors from unfriendly countries.

“Operations prohibited by this decree can be carried out with special authorization from the President of the Russian Federation,” the document states.

The list of countries “unfriendly” with Russia drawn up by the Russian government includes 49 states, including all members of the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Japan and Australia.