As sanctions start biting, Medvedev says Russia should nationalise foreign assets

The Russian government is threatening to seize funds of foreigners and foreign companies in Russia, as a response to wide-ranging international and European sanctions against Vladimir Putin and his top allies.

RIA news agency quoted former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the security council, that Moscow does not rule out nationalising the assets of companies registered in the United States, European Union and other “unfriendly jurisdictions”.

The statement comes in the wake of EU sanctions against Russian president Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, in response to the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

EU leaders will also remove Russian banks from SWIFT and freeze transactions of the Russian Central Bank, as well as limit the sale of EU passports to Russian elites.

Ordinary Russians faced the prospect of higher prices, leading uneasy people to line up at banks and ATMs after the Russian currency plunged about 30% against the U.S. dollar Monday following moves to block some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system and to restrict use of its foreign currency reserves.

Moscow's department of public transport warned city residents over the weekend that they might experience problems with using Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay to pay fares because VTB, one of the Russian banks facing sanctions, handles card payments in Moscow's metro, buses and trams.

In response, Medvedev speculated that Russia may nationalise property of United States and EU people, according to TASS agency.

Medvedev said Russia was being threatened with asset seizures abroad “just like that, without any sanctions... out of spite.”

Medvedev said Russia’s response should be ‘symmetrical’ with the asset seizure of foreigners and foreign companies in Russia. “And maybe, with nationalisation of property of people registered in unfriendly jurisdictions. Like the EU and states from the Anglo-Saxon world that are singing along in this,” he said on his social media page on VK.

“Thankfully, we have vast experience and also a law on this issue. A harsh one. So the most interesting stuff is only just beginning,” he speculated.

The EU has imposed financial and technological sector restrictions against 64 key Russian agencies, including the presidential administration, the Russian defence ministry, foreign intelligence, state structures, as well as military industrial corporations, financial companies and banks.

EU to finance arms for Ukraine as leaders toughen sanctions on Russia

Maltese interests in Russia include International Hotel Investments’ hotels in Moscow and St Petersburg, the Corinthia, and the Nevskij Plaza Retail and Commercial Centre.

Malta has so far not announced any restrictions on the sale of passports through its citizen by investment, formerly known as the Individual Investor Programme, which allows a non-resident foreigner to essentially buy citizenship in the EU for €650,000 and €150,000 in government bonds. A property purchase or long-term rental contract and due diligence fees are also required.

Russian buyers have included Arkady Volozh, the founder of Yandex, Russia’s biggest search engine and car-hailing service. While Yandex has been generally cooperative with the Kremlin, a Moscow court banned the search engine from showing results for the term ‘Smart Voting’ following a complaint from the Russian Federation – the term was part of an effort by the Russian opposition that has formed around the once-poisoned and now jailed Alexei Navalny to challenge the likely victory of Putin’s United Russia party in the State Duma elections of 2021.