Here’s what we know about Putin’s decree empowering the Russian state to take control of companies that fail to stop Ukrainian drones

Starting August 24, Russian authorities can place critical infrastructure facilities under temporary state management if their owners have failed to take adequate security measures. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the decree.

The decree’s key provisions are open to very broad interpretation. A temporary administrator — Rosimushchestvo, Russia’s federal property agency, or “another person” chosen by the authorities — can take over all or part of a company’s property and assets. The administrator gains an owner’s powers but cannot sell the facility entrusted to it. The decree sets no time limit for such management; the authorities decide how long it lasts. Revenue from the property’s use will cover its upkeep.

Russian authorities justified the measure by citing “growing threats to security during the special military operation.” In recent months, Ukrainian drones have struck Russian oil refineries and fuel depots almost daily, along with logistics hubs belonging to the major online marketplaces Wildberries and Ozon.

Experts surveyed by the Russian business outlet RBC said the decree sets no specific requirements or deadlines that, if violated, could lead to temporary management. They said it is unclear how — and by whom — a “violation” or a “delay” in taking measures would be documented, or how quickly the owner of a facility hit by drones must repair the damage. In practice, they said, the decree amounts to an obligation to repair the damage from attacks immediately and at any cost, and its vagueness leaves businesses without legal certainty or predictability. By contrast, government agencies gain “considerable latitude in assessment” — over which security measures count as effective, for example, and which do not.

The decree also doesn’t specify who should pay to protect facilities that the authorities might classify as critical infrastructure. A source in the fuel industry told the Russian business daily Kommersant that oil companies already carry a set of obligations to defend refineries from drone strikes and repair damaged plants, and that failing to meet those obligations puts some of their assets at risk. The source said refinery owners are worried that the decree doesn’t divide responsibility between them and Russia’s Defense Ministry.

The independent Russian outlet The Bell says private companies find it fairly difficult to defend their facilities against Ukrainian drone strikes on their own. Only a handful of agencies are allowed to touch a drone at all — to jam its signal, damage it, or destroy it. They are the National Guard, the Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Federal Protective Service (FSO), the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), the Emergency Situations Ministry, departmental security services, and employees of private security firms. That leaves businesses a single legal path: hire licensed guards and obtain government permission to switch on a drone-jamming device — a process that requires approval from the Defense Ministry, a ruling from the State Radio Frequency Commission, and registration with Roskomnadzor, Russia’s federal censorship and telecommunications agency.

Another fuel-industry source told Kommersant that in practice the decree is likely to affect “only independent refiners and certain private regional companies in other industries” — a group that could include businesses in Russia’s southern border regions. The Bell suggests that by “transport and logistics complexes,” the authorities mean the online marketplaces the state decided to rebuild after Ukrainian drone strikes, and that in that context the new decree could serve as insurance for those state investments.

Temporary management itself is not new. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the authorities have applied it only to the assets of foreign companies, while Russian businesses have been nationalized through lawsuits filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The Bell says a decision to impose temporary management is often the first step toward a change of ownership, even though it isn’t formally considered nationalization. Danone’s Russian business and the brewer Baltika, for instance, both changed owners after temporary management was introduced.

Soon after the decree took effect, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov gave assurances that temporary management doesn’t amount to nationalization. The decree provides for no “mass application,” he said, and “targeted, carefully calibrated decisions will be made at the highest level.”

The Kremlin justified the new measures by shifting full responsibility onto business owners. “We are facing an obvious threat of drone attacks on critical infrastructure facilities, and business owners often don’t pay proper attention to security measures,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The war in photos: Shelling in Kramatorsk

Russian forces dropped aerial bombs on Kramatorsk, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, on the afternoon of August 25. According to the latest reports from local authorities, 24 people were injured, including one child. More than 30 apartment buildings, several school buildings, and one critical infrastructure facility were damaged. Kramatorsk is a Ukrainian city near the front line. In recent weeks, Russian forces have tried to press their offensive toward the city and nearby towns and villages. Kramatorsk comes under Russian shelling regularly. Below are photographs of the damage from these attacks — all from the past week alone.