Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill restricting foreign investment in companies operating in strategic industries, the presidential press service said Monday according to Prime-Tass.
The bill was approved by the State Duma, the Russian parliament's lower house, on April 2, and by the Federation Council, the parliament's upper house, on April 16.
Under the law, foreign private investors have to obtain the approval of the Russian government before getting more than a 50% stake in a strategic company, while foreign governments and international organizations or companies controlled by them have to obtain government approval before obtaining more than a 25% stake in a strategic company.
The purchase of more than a 5% stake in a company developing a strategic natural resource deposit first requires government approval, under the law.
Foreign investors that already have more than 50% in a strategic company and seek to acquire more are exempt from the provisions of the law. The exception is companies developing strategic deposits.
The law includes 42 industries that are considered to be strategic for the country's defense and security. Among them are the nuclear, cryptography, arms, airline security, space, aircraft, television and radio broadcasting industries.
It also applies to monopolistic producers of metals used in the defense industry, exploration and development of strategic mineral resource deposits, fishing and seafood production, telecommunications companies that have a dominant position on the market, as well as large printing and publishing houses.
Strategic mineral deposits include deposits of uranium, diamonds, pure quartz, some rare earth metals, nickel, cobalt, tantalum, niobium, beryllium, lithium and platinum-group metals, under the law. They also include deposits with recoverable oil reserves of at least 70 million tonnes, natural gas reserves of at least 50 billion cubic meters, gold reserves of at least 50 tonnes, copper reserves of at least 500,000 tonnes and offshore deposits.