Norwegians sell hotels in Russia. 10% of the sum is seized by Putin's war treasury

The Norwegian family-owned company has run hotels in Russia for more than 15 years. Among them is the Park Inn Poliarnie Zori in Murmansk.

But Russia’s war and aggression against neighboring countries are now leading to the company’s exit from the country.

The Wenaas Group this week announced that it is selling its Russian hotels for €400 million. The price is believed to be far below the original market value of the assets. In addition, ten percent of the sum will be included in the Russian state budget.

The seizure of the sum comes after Russian authorities decided that 10 percent of all business deals with companies from “unfriendly countries” are to be expropriated. They also decided that all deals are to be subjected to a minimum of 50 percent “discount,” the Russian edition of the Barents Observer reports.

The buyer is the Russian investment group Sistema. It is controlled by Vladimir Yevtushenko, the ultra-rich businessman that is sanctioned by the U.K. and several more countries. The new hotels will be included in Systema’s subsidiary Cosmos Hotel Group.

This article is based on a story published in the Russian version of the Barents Observer

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