Ukraine seizes stakes in strategic companies under wartime laws

It was the first time the government had used martial law for such a move since Russia invaded Ukraine in February and also its most dramatic wartime intervention into big business, touching companies linked to tycoons whose political power President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's team has long sought to curb. The decision was taken at a meeting of top security officials chaired by Zelenskiy on Saturday and went into force on Sunday, placing the privately held stakes under the control of the Defence Ministry, three top officials said.

Ukraine said on Monday it had invoked wartime laws to take control of stakes in a top engine-maker and four other strategic companies from some of the country's richest men. It was the first time the government had used martial law for such a move since Russia invaded Ukraine in February and also its most dramatic wartime intervention into big business, touching companies linked to tycoons whose political power President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's team has long sought to curb.

The decision was taken at a meeting of top security officials chaired by Zelenskiy on Saturday and went into force on Sunday, placing the privately held stakes under the control of the Defence Ministry, three top officials said. "At the end of the military state (martial law)... the assets can be returned to their owners or appropriately compensated at their value," Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov told a news conference.

The companies included engine maker Motor Sich, energy companies Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta, vehicle maker AvtoKrAZ and transformer maker Zaporizhtransformator. None of the five companies offered any immediate comment.

The companies are partially owned by the state and are associated with powerful businessmen including billionaires Ihor Kolomoisky and Kostiantyn Zhevaho, as well as businessman Vyacheslav Bohuslayev, who was detained in October on suspicion of collaborating with Russia. "This is not nationalisation... this is a direct taking over of assets during wartime. These are totally different legal forms," Defence Minister Oleskii Reznikov said.

The decision was announced at a joint news conference of Danilov, Reznikov and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, an unusually high-profile panel that signalled the sensitivity of the move. The officials did not elaborate on the size of the stakes that had been taken over,

Asked if other companies' shares could be taken over, Reznikov declined to comment after the news conference. At the news conference, Danilov answered: "It depends how much influence they have on the state of our country".