Russian state has claimed assets worth $28.7 billion, prosecutor says

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has now transferred property worth 2.4 trillion roubles ($28.7 billion) to the state, Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov said on Wednesday.

Krasnov did not specify a time frame, but Moscow started seizing property soon after the start of the conflict in Ukraine.

Through lawsuits, Russia has quickened the pace of domestic asset seizures this year, with courts already ruling that a leading grain trader, Moscow’s sprawling Domodedovo airport, strategic warehouse assets and a zinc and lead producer be handed over to the state.

Krasnov, at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, said five strategic enterprises, four of which had been “under foreign control”, have been brought under state ownership.

“In total, through the court, we have recovered property worth more than 2.4 trillion roubles in favour of the state,” Krasnov said.

Krasnov said company owners had withdrawn profits from Russia, failed to invest in infrastructure and not paid taxes in full, without naming specific companies.

Foreign companies have grappled with the risk of state seizure ever since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, but Moscow, under the auspices of strategic stability and domestic security, has increasingly brought domestic assets too into the crosshairs.

($1 = 83.5705 roubles)

(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya, Anastasia Lyrchikova and Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Alexander Marrow and Toby Chopra)