Putin signs decree allowing state seizure of businesses hit by drone strikes

# Why This Matters Putin's decree represents a significant expansion of state control over Russia's private sector under the guise of wartime necessity, effectively giving the Kremlin legal cover to nationalize assets without compensation or market mechanism. By targeting businesses damaged by drone strikes—damage that Russian air defenses have increasingly failed to prevent—the decree creates perverse incentives: owners of damaged facilities may face expropriation rather than compensation, potentially encouraging capital flight and disinvestment in precisely the sectors most critical to Russia's war economy. The move will likely accelerate the erosion of independent Russian business from energy and logistics, consolidating economic power in state hands and reducing the efficiency of these sectors through politicized management rather than market discipline. For Western allies supporting Ukraine, this decree signals desperation in Moscow's economic planning and reveals how the costs of the conflict are forcing an increasingly autarkic and centralized Russian state.