Putin Gives Russia New Power to Control Critical Infrastructure

Russian President Vladimir Putin has created a new legal route for the government to impose temporary management over privately controlled critical infrastructure if authorities determine that an owner failed to protect a facility or restore it promptly after damage.

Putin signed Decree No. 604 on August 24, 2026. The decree took effect upon official publication and follows repeated Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries, fuel facilities, warehouses and logistics hubs. It does not automatically transfer private assets to the state or authorize an immediate seizure of every facility in the covered sectors.

What the decree allows

Under the decree, the Russian government may introduce temporary management after receiving a presidential instruction. The measure can apply to all or part of a company’s movable and immovable property located in Russia, as well as its securities, ownership interests in Russian legal entities and property rights.

The potential scope includes fuel and energy facilities, industrial sites, communications networks, utilities, transport and logistics complexes, energy infrastructure including nuclear facilities, life-support systems and other critical or potentially dangerous sites. The decree also covers facilities considered especially important to national security, economic stability or the daily life of the population.

Temporary management may be imposed when an owner fails to take security measures on time, violates official requirements, creates a threat to safe or normal operations, uses measures against drone attacks that are found to be ineffective, or fails to restore a damaged facility promptly.

The Federal Agency for State Property Management is the default temporary manager unless the government names another entity under the presidential instruction. The manager may exercise the owner’s powers over the property under temporary management, except the power to dispose of it, and must inventory and preserve the assets. The decree says related expenses are to be financed from income generated by using the property.

The decree sets no fixed duration. Temporary management ends through a government decision based on a presidential instruction.

Officials reject the term nationalization

Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said the measure does not change ownership and should not be treated as nationalization. He described it as selective state involvement in company management to address specific security problems and said it would not be applied broadly.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said business owners often do not pay enough attention to anti-drone security. The government’s explanation places added responsibility on companies to protect facilities and finance repairs, although reporting has also highlighted uncertainty over how responsibilities are divided between private operators and the Defense Ministry.

Businesses are asking for clearer rules

Russian legal and business specialists cited by Meduza said the decree leaves important questions unanswered. It does not establish detailed deadlines or clear performance standards for deciding when protection or restoration is inadequate. That uncertainty could complicate decisions by infrastructure operators, lenders, insurers and investors.

Private owners may also lack the authority to obtain or deploy some counter-drone equipment. Kommersant reported that businesses could need special government powers or permits to use tools authorities may expect them to provide.

First implementation step

The Russian government has formed a subcommission chaired by Manturov to analyze security at critical infrastructure sites, monitor whether enterprises resume operations on time and prepare measures and recommendations intended to keep facilities functioning normally.

The subcommission held its first meeting on August 27, focusing on logistics and trade infrastructure. According to Kommersant, the Industry and Trade Ministry prepared a list of 167 sites for possible inclusion in a list of critically important facilities. The figure represents a proposed list, not a final designation or confirmed state control of any company or property.

The immediate test will be whether the government publishes implementing rules, names particular facilities or issues the first temporary-management order. Until then, the decree signals a broader wartime role for the Russian state in privately controlled infrastructure while leaving the practical limits of that intervention unsettled.

Sources

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