Putin Clears Sale of Stake in Russia’s Largest Airport

Russian President Vladimir Putin has cleared the way for the sale of the state’s 30.4% stake in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, Russia’s largest, as the government seeks to shore up public finances strained by the war in Ukraine.

Putin signed a decree on Thursday removing Sheremetyevo from Russia’s list of strategic enterprises. The state will retain a so-called golden share, giving it the power to block management decisions it opposes.

The decree bars the stake from being sold to foreign buyers and requires the new owner to maintain the airport’s core business and modernization program.

Russia recorded a federal budget deficit of 5.73tn rubles ($69.6bn), or 2.5% of GDP, in the first half of 2026. That was 1.7 times the deficit recorded during the same period last year.

Sheremetyevo Holding owns another 66% of the airport. Its ultimate owners are not publicly disclosed. Before the company was redomiciled from Cyprus to Russia in 2022, it was controlled by companies owned by Putin ally Arkady Rotenberg and his business partners.

Sheremetyevo can handle up to 87 million passengers annually and served around 43.5 million in 2025. In January, it expanded its position in Moscow aviation by acquiring 100% of Domodedovo Airport for 66bn rubles ($802m) at auction.

(Reuters, Lud)