Russian prosecutors are warning Western countries in Russia of both arrest and seizure for criticizing the government and boycotting the country because of their war on Ukraine:
WSJ – Russian prosecutors have issued warnings to Western companies in Russia, threatening to arrest corporate leaders there who criticize the government or to seize assets of companies that withdraw from the country, according to people familiar with the matter.
Prosecutors delivered the warnings in the past week to companies including Coca-Cola Co. KO 0.07%▲ , McDonald’s Corp. MCD 2.19%▲ , Procter & Gamble Co. , International Business Machines Corp. IBM -0.31%▲ and KFC owner Yum Brands Inc., YUM 0.38%▲ the people said. The calls, letters and visits included threats to sue the companies and seize assets including trademarks, the people said.
The warnings have prompted at least one of the targeted companies to limit communications between its Russian business and the rest of the company, out of concern that emails or text messages among colleagues may be intercepted, some of the people said.
Other companies have moved to transfer executives out of Russia, other people familiar with the matter said.
Putin is supporting a new plan which will allow him to nationalize these companies:
Mr. Putin endorsed a plan floated last week by a senior member of his dominant United Russia party to nationalize the operations of Western companies exiting the country. Such a move would help prevent job losses and maintain Russia’s ability to produce goods domestically, said Andrei Turchak, the secretary of the general council of the United Russia party.
Washington warned against a nationalization effort.
“Any lawless decision by Russia to seize the assets of these companies will ultimately result in even more economic pain for Russia” and might invite legal action, White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted Thursday.
Legal action? Sheesh, I doubt Putin is worried about that.
Even so, it’s atrocious that he and his brown shirt prosecutors would do such a thing. It’s exactly what Turkey has been doing for years and it’s not a good sign to see Putin going down this path.
But given Europe’s need for Putin’s oil and gas, I think he knows he can do whatever he wants and any pain he might feel is only temporary.