INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Vladimir Potanin, one of Russia's richest oligarchs and a Kremlin confidant, has criticized plans to confiscate assets of foreign
enterprises leaving the country, likening them to the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.Potanin, who heads the Nornickel mining company, drew the
parallel as President Vladimir Putin's government scrambles to respond to massive Western sanctions on Moscow for its military campaign in
Ukraine.The confiscations have not been announced, but have been floated as an idea to hit back at the West."I would call for a very
cautious approach to the issue of confiscations from the enterprises that have announced they are leaving Russia," Potanin said in a
statement published by his Nornickel mining company on Telegram
during "unprecedented pressure on them because of public opinion abroad.""Personally, I would keep this opportunity for them," he
to stem the flight of foreign currency and capital as much as possible.Without saying the word "nationalization," Putin said Thursday that
foreign companies leaving Russia should be given to "those who want to make them work."He also said that Russia is still open for business,
calling for the remaining foreign investors in the country to be "protected."Putin's ruling United Russia party told the Kremlin chief that
it had prepared a draft bill that would be "the first step towards the nationalization of assets of foreign companies leaving the Russian
close to Putin, with whom he has been seen playing hockey.Other Russian oligarchs have criticized Russia's economic policies since Putin
sent in troops to Ukraine -- stopping short at criticizing the president himself.
