Putin hands Russian state right to take control of badly protected infrastructure objects

President Vladimir Putin on Monday handed the Russian state the authority to take control of critically-important ​infrastructure facilities if they are deemed to be ‌poorly protected from Ukrainian drone attacks and other threats.

The special powers, set out in a presidential decree, will allow the ​state to take over temporary administration of such ​facilities at a time when Ukraine has stepped ⁠up drone attacks on oil refineries and retail warehouses.

The ​state will be able to take control of physical ​and financial assets and formal ownership rights if the entities responsible for such facilities are judged to have failed in their duty ​to protect them and are too slow to ​repair them after any attack, according to the decree.

It listed fuel, ‌energy, ⁠industrial, communications, transport and logistics facilities and other objects regarded as critically-important for ensuring the security and economic stability of the state and the population as falling within ​the new ​decree's scope.

Putin last ⁠week ordered the government to launch a programme to rebuild commercial warehouses damaged or ​destroyed by Ukraine in recent weeks.

Kyiv has attacked ​at ⁠least two dozen warehouses belonging to Russia's top online retailer Wildberries since July 18, destroying a large chunk of its ⁠storage ​capacity. On Monday, Russia's second-largest ​online retailer Ozon , said four of its logistics hubs in southern Russia ​had been targeted in Ukrainian attacks.