Russia to ban trading in shares of foreign defence companies

The head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation said that Russia was going to delist shares of foreign defence companies. One still have to decide how their owners are going to divest.

Russia will ban trading in shares of defence companies from unfriendly countries, Elvira Nabiullina, the head of the Russian Central Bank said at a press conference following the meeting of the Board of Directors of the bank.

"We suppose that they will not be traded. Apparently, this will lead to their delisting, and, of course, one of the issues that needs to be resolved in this regard is how those people who bought those securities legitimately would be able to divest," she said. This issue is yet to be finalised, she added.

On April 28, the Moscow Exchange published the list of foreign issuers whose shares will not have valid settlement codes starting from May 2. The list includes US-based defence companies, such as:

• Northrop Grumman Corporation;
• Lockheed Martin Corporation;
• Smith & Wesson Brands;
• L3Harris Technologies;
• Raytheon Technologies Corporation;
• General Dynamics Corporation;
• Palantir Technologies;
• TransDigm Group Incorporated.

The shares of these companies are also traded on the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange — the main stock exchange for foreign securities.

Moscow's list of Russia-unfriendly countries counts more than 50 entries. They are not only the USA, Canada, Great Britain, EU countries, but also Japan, South Korea and Australia.