President Vladimir Putin allowed some international funds including American ones to sell Russian securities, a day before planned talks with President Donald Trump on a possible ceasefire in the war on Ukraine.
Putin is allowing the US-registered 683 Capital Partners LP to buy securities of Russian companies that were owned by about a dozen western asset-management and hedge funds, according to a presidential decree published Monday. Franklin Advisers Inc., Templeton Asset Management Ltd. and Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd. were among funds that received the right to sell assets.
The decree also empowered two Russian entities to conduct transactions with 683 Capital Partners related to these securities.
The Kremlin didn’t provide any additional information.
683 Capital, based in New York, had 10 employees and oversaw $1.95 billion of assets as of the end of 2023, split across a main fund and an offshore feeder fund, according to regulatory filings. The firm was founded in 2006 and is run by Ari Zweiman.
Western exchanges suspended operations involving Russian securities in 2022, pushing trading into over-the-counter markets. Sanctions over Putin’s war in Ukraine also cut the link between Russian and western financial markets, preventing many of the funds from selling their Russian assets.
Russia introduced special accounts to hold Russian securities owned by western investors.
The Kremlin confirmed that Putin and Trump are due to speak by phone on Tuesday amid a US push for a 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine has already said it will accept. US and Russian representatives have also begun engaging on some business projects, including in gas.
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Yuliya Fedorinova, Bloomberg News
–With assistance from Andrey Lemeshko, Vladimir Kuznetsov and Michael J. Moore.
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