Putin signs decree allowing state control of critical infrastructure

Now I have enough material to write the article.Now I have solid sourcing. Let me write the article.Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree granting the state new authority to seize temporary control of critical infrastructure facilities deemed poorly protected from Ukrainian drone attacks, according to Reuters. The measure, published Monday, arrives as Ukraine intensifies a bombing campaign against Russian logistics networks that has already destroyed dozens of retail warehouses deep inside the country.

President Vladimir Putin on Monday handed the Russian state the authority to take control of critically-important infrastructure facilities if they are deemed to be poorly protected from Ukrainian drone attacks and other threats. The special powers, set out in a presidential decree, will allow the state to take over temporary administration of such facilities at a time when Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on oil refineries and retail warehouses. The state will be able to take control of physical and financial assets and formal ownership rights if the entities responsible for such facilities are judged to have failed in their duty to protect them and are too slow to repair them after any attack, according to the decree.

The decree applies broadly across Russia's economy. It listed fuel, energy, industrial, communications, transport and logistics facilities and other objects regarded as critically-important for ensuring the security and economic stability of the state and the population. TASS, the Russian state news agency, reported that Russian authorities will now have the power to impose temporary management on critical infrastructure facilities, if their owners fail to implement or restore security measures in a timely manner, under a new decree signed by President Vladimir Putin, adding that the government may assume temporary control over sites including nuclear power plants when owners neglect security protocols or delay necessary repairs. Independent outlet Meduza reported that the temporary administrator, according to the decree, will be Rosimushchestvo — Russia's federal property management agency — or "another party" to be designated by the government.

The Kremlin has moved to head off fears that the decree amounts to a wave of nationalization. According to Reuters, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said "This does not involve nationalisation or a change of ownership. The decree provides for the state to take part in managing an enterprise in order to address specific security issues." A separate report noted that Manturov, who oversees Russian industry, indicated any such move would be applied narrowly rather than broadly across the private sector.

The decree comes against the backdrop of an expanding Ukrainian campaign against Russian commercial infrastructure. According to Meduza, journalists and analysts have counted 23 Wildberries warehouses damaged or destroyed, at least 14 people killed, and more than 100 injured since the campaign against the retailer began. A Wikipedia summary of the strikes noted that since July 2026, Ukraine has conducted waves of drone strikes into Russia targeting warehouses belonging to Wildberries, a large online retailer in Russia which has aided the Russian war effort, and that on 22 August 2026, the first attack on an Ozon warehouse took place in Chapayevsk, Samara Oblast.

Newsweek reported that Russia's e-commerce giant Ozon said four of its logistics hubs were targeted by Ukrainian drones as Kyiv widens its campaign to disrupt the country's commercial supply networks, with the firm saying the strikes hit Russia's Krasnodar, Dagestan, Adygea and the Stavropol regions, causing fires, forcing evacuations and disrupting operations. Reuters reported separately that Ozon said a "major fire" was burning at one of its logistics centres in the southern Krasnodar region after a drone attack, and that "all systems operated as designed, and we promptly evacuated staff." Forbes had earlier reported that Wildberries and Ozon act almost entirely as marketplaces, connecting sellers with buyers across Russia, storing and delivering their goods and handling payments, underscoring the scale of disruption the strikes have caused to ordinary commerce.

The economic backdrop to the decree has also drawn scrutiny. One report noted that the order comes as ordinary Russians panic over the deteriorating economy, pulling nearly $3.4 billion from their bank accounts in the first two weeks of August alone over fears Putin will seize their savings to fund the war, with a senior Sberbank executive warning that capital flight could double the amount drained during the initial 2022 invasion, leaving banks facing severe liquidity shortages.

It remains unclear how often the new powers will be invoked or how long any temporary administration might last, as those details were not fully spelled out in initial reporting on the decree. There has been no immediate public comment from Ukrainian officials on the decree or on the latest wave of strikes on Russian logistics facilities.