MOSCOW/FRANKFURT: Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered that Wintershall Dea and OMV be stripped of multi-billion-dollar stakes in gas extraction projects in Russia’s Arctic.

Under presidential decrees published late on Tuesday, stakes held by OMV and Wintershall Dea in the Yuzhno-Russkoye field and in the Achimov projects are to revert to newly created Russian companies.

“The presidential decree is further confirmation: Russia is no longer a reliable economic partner and is unpredictable - in every respect,” a Wintershall spokesperson said in a written reply to a Reuters’ enquiry.

“OMV is currently reviewing the presidential decree and may take further steps to preserve its rights,” OMV said in a press release.

OMV said it adjusted the value of its 24.99% holding in the gas field in Western Siberia in 2022 and expected no further negative effects on its results.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily conference call with reporters on Wednesday that the decrees do not mean that Russia has embarked on confiscation of assets of so-called “unfriendly countries”.

“Those companies that leave the market, they either sell or transfer assets - it all depends on negotiations,” he said. “But there was and is no process of asset seizure.”

The Kremlin’s biggest seizure of foreign assets in Russia comes after what Putin casts as a declaration of economic war by the West over Russia’s decision to send thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian entrepreneurs have gained control over some major Western assets in Russia including Carlsberg’s eight breweries as well as Danone’s enterprises.