Putin decree authorises US hedge fund to buy foreign-owned Russian securities

(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has given a U.S. hedge fund permission to buy securities in Russian companies from certain foreign stakeholders and authorised their future sale to two Russian funds, a presidential decree showed on Monday.

Moscow has steadily tightened restrictions on foreign asset sales since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, with any transactions involving the energy and finance sectors requiring Putin's approval.

The decree authorised U.S. hedge fund 683 Capital Partners, LP, to acquire the securities of Russian companies owned by around a dozen other Western funds.

The decree then gave two Russian companies permission to acquire securities owned by 683 Capital Partners without the need for additional authorisation from Putin.

International sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine war have blocked many Russian investors' access to securities held in jurisdictions outside the country, while Russian countermeasures have frozen Western funds within.

(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Andrew Osborn)