Putin tightens control over foreign invest in strategic firms

MOSCOW, Jul 31 (PRIME) -- President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill to tighten control over foreign investments in Russian strategic companies, according to a document released on the official portal of legal information on Friday.

More than 40 types of activities, including work in the nuclear field; development, production, repair, sale and disposal of military equipment; space and aviation sphere; exploration of mineral resources, and mining are now strategic.

The law specifies the grounds for preliminary approval of transactions by foreign investors when acquiring shares in Russian companies from strategic industries. Once the law comes into force, when considering transactions for the purchase of shares of such a company by a foreign investor, all shares of this company already acquired by it will be taken into account, even if the buyer is temporarily unable to dispose of them.

The law also excludes the possibility of abuse by foreign investors in the temporary transfer to other persons of the right to directly or indirectly dispose of voting shares of a strategic company.

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