Putin entrusts military-linked bank with accelerated state property sales

Overview of State Property Sales Initiative

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed PSB, a bank which serves the military-industrial complex and is under Western sanctions, as the government's agent in state property sales, according to a decree published on Tuesday.

Details of the Government Decree

The decree also introduced an accelerated sale mechanism, requiring a mandatory valuation of an asset within 10 days after a contract for such valuation is signed, along with faster property rights registration.

Financial Goals and Budget Implications

The decree follows the government's unveiling of a new draft budget for 2026, which would mark the fifth year of military action in Ukraine. The budget includes a 2 percentage points increase in value-added tax (VAT) to finance spending.

Impact of Western Sanctions on Assets

The government aims to raise 100 billion roubles from privatisations this year and up to one trillion roubles ($12 billion) by 2030, including sales of some of the estimated $50 billion worth of assets it has seized since 2022.

The conflict in Ukraine has been accompanied by a major transfer of assets as many Western companies fled the Russian market, others' assets were expropriated and the assets of some major Russian businesses were seized by the state.

The decree said the new measures were a response to "unfriendly" actions by the U.S. and its allies, without elaborating.

($1 = 82.4955 roubles)

(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya and Darya Korsunskaya; Writing by Gleb BryanskiEditing by Gareth Jones)