Saturday’s director of Russia’s main crime bureau urged renationalizing critical industries to help Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Moscow has taken or bought assets cheaply from Western corporations who left Russia or reduced their operations since the invasion.
“We are essentially talking about economic security in a war,” said Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin at a live-streamed presentation. “Nationalize our main economic sectors.”
Bastrykin, who reports to Putin, rarely dabbles in economic policy.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia was privatized widely and chaotically in the 1990s.
Oligarchs controlled some of the state’s most valuable assets, but Putin pushed them to sell or give up power.
Oil, gas, and metals fuel Russia’s economy and government.
Gazprom, Russia’s largest natural gas producer, is state-owned. Rosneft (ROSN.MM), its largest oil corporation, is headed by Putin loyalist Igor Sechin.
Moscow claims it intervened in Ukraine to protect Russian speakers and deter NATO, but Kyiv and the West view these claims as pretexts for conquest.
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