Russian President Vladimir Putin is shifting the burden of defending against drone attacks to private companies. According to the latest order, if companies fail to properly protect their assets from Ukrainian drone attacks, they will face the risk of being placed under "temporary administration" and then taken over by the state.
The Financial Times reported that Ukraine has recently intensified its long-range drone offensive, causing dozens of commercial warehouses in Russia to catch fire and destroying up to 20% of its oil refining capacity, leaving the country that relies on energy exports to face fuel shortages. In response to this crisis, Putin signed a decree at the end of August allowing state takeover of "critical infrastructure" that fails to protect against drone attacks. Three days later, the Russian government immediately established a special committee to supervise the implementation.
Former Kremlin officials revealed that Putin agreed to sign the decree after intelligence and military leaders complained that companies were "sitting aside and unwilling to contribute" in the face of attacks. This move clearly sends a message to the business community: "You must immediately adjust your attitude and start paying for it out of your own pocket." Drone defense expert Vyacheslav Plaksin pointed out that after the promulgation of the law, the number of relevant inquiries from companies instantly increased by five times, which is like a trigger to force the launch of defense construction.
Since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, Russian companies and the government have often argued over "who should pay the bill" for defense funds. Alexander Shokhin, chairman of the pro-Kremlin Union of Russian Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), has repeatedly called for the state to assist companies with financing. However, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov took a tough stance, saying bluntly that "businesses have their own money." It was not until late September that the Ministry of Finance said it was working on "tax adjustments" to recognize corporate defense expenditures, but did not disclose details.
This decree triggered panic in the business community, fearing that the Kremlin would use it as a new excuse to promote "nationalization." Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, asset seizures by the Russian government have become increasingly common, including the recent de facto takeover of the Russian subsidiaries of Auchan and Nestlé. Although Putin emphasized that he "never considered taking anything away," the business community still did not buy it. "This will undoubtedly be used to seize assets at some point," a former Rosneft executive said bluntly.
However, the executive also mentioned that some companies with close ties to the Kremlin may profit from this. They can "temporarily" hand over the damaged refineries to the state for repairs at public expense, and then take them back when the situation improves.
At present, the Russian government has not yet formulated clear regulations on which facilities need to be protected and the specific measures that should be taken. Equipment to defend against drones, such as electronic jamming systems, often require permission from the national security department, which is extremely difficult to obtain. Most of the current defense rules evolved from older anti-terrorism regulations, leaving companies having to navigate dozens of overlapping requirements. Plaksin described: "Today's regulations are like a puzzle, and every company has to find its own way to piece it together." It is reported that there are about 24,000 key points in a single industry alone, which are included in the priority list that needs protection, and the list is completely confidential.
Analyzing satellite images, a former Ukrainian military officer pointed out that facilities closer to the Ukrainian border, such as military airports or power plants, have more sophisticated defenses, including anti-drone nets, reinforced concrete bunkers, and even the deployment of Pantsir air defense systems near residential areas; while infrastructure east of the Ural Mountains has almost no protection.
However, these defenses are extremely costly. For example, Plaksin said a factory needed to spend 220 million rubles (approximately NT$100 million) to install a protection system, which is equivalent to the factory's entire day's revenue; a businessman in a border area has invested more than 1.5 billion rubles (approximately NT$600 million) to build air defense facilities. Putin himself has mentioned that an oil company spends "tens of billions of rubles" on drone defense.
Alexandra Prokopenko, a researcher at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, a Berlin think tank, pointed out that the country does not have the extra funds to maintain a war and build a layered defense network at the same time, and companies have no recourse. This defensive policy has become another "new tax" that Russian companies must silently bear.
