Russia to sell Domodedovo Airport by end of 2025
Russia’s Ministry of Finance intends to sell Domodedovo Airport, which was nationalized earlier this summer, to a private investor by the end of 2025, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told business outlet RBC on Tuesday.
“The sale of Domodedovo is on the agenda. We’ll see if we can finalize it by the end of the year. We are interested in transferring this asset as quickly as possible,” Siluanov said, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
According to the minister, a potential buyer has already been identified, but he declined to disclose the name. Siluanov stressed that the deal will take place through an open auction to ensure a fair market price and competition.
Earlier this year, Russia’s Prosecutor General filed a lawsuit against 30 companies within the Domodedovo Group, accusing the airport’s main shareholder Dmitry Kamenshchik and supervisory board chairman Valery Kogan—both residents of other countries—of illegally managing the strategic asset and diverting profits abroad.
In June, the Moscow Regional Arbitration Court fully upheld the prosecutor’s claim, transferring Domodedovo’s holding company, DME Holding, to state ownership.
Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the exit of foreign businesses, authorities have stepped up nationalizations. In 2024 alone, the Prosecutor General’s Office seized private assets worth nearly 2.4 trillion rubles—about 6% of the federal budget revenue planned for 2025.
At the same time, Siluanov has promoted a “large-scale privatization” program, signaling that many of these nationalized assets could soon return to private hands.
The Financial Times reported in April that the concept of “soft nationalization” in Russia has been driven by billionaire brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, close allies of President Vladimir Putin. Arkady Rotenberg and partners already hold a stake in Sheremetyevo, Russia’s largest airport, while their affiliated conglomerate Roskhim has acquired several companies recently confiscated by prosecutors.
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