Finance Minister Anton Siluanov tried to explain the withdrawal of superprofits from the state corporation Gazprom to the Russian budget through a one-time increase in the mineral extraction tax (MET). The approved mechanism deprived tens of thousands of Gazprom shareholders of dividends, and experts and lawyers called this method "robbery." In an interview with Vedomosti, the head of the Ministry of Finance expressed the opinion that such decisions do not in any way discredit the authorities and state-owned companies.

The official assures that the basic principle of distributing the profits of state-owned companies has not gone away, according to him, the standard on paying 50% of profits as dividends remains in force, but "in the current situation" the government decided on each company separately. As an example, the head of the Ministry of Finance cited the banking sector. He noted that if the banks pay dividends, they would need additional capitalization from the state.

“As for Gazprom, the situation is different here. The government addressed the parliament with a proposal to redistribute part of the state-owned company's windfall profits, which arose due to favorable external conditions, to the budget through a temporary increase in the severance tax. These resources will be directed to social support for citizens and the implementation of measures to stabilize the economy,” the minister said.

Moreover, the company's profit was left inside Gazprom, the minister said. According to him, the company will be able to use this money for the implementation of investment projects, such as gasification within the country and the construction of a gas pipeline to China. Answering a question about the undermining of confidence in the Russian authorities, Gazprom and the stock market, the minister noted that this was a one-time situation.

“Temporary rejection of dividends does not mean that this practice will be continued in the coming years. Shareholders should understand that saving resources for investment development, on the contrary, will give them more opportunities to receive good returns in the future,” Siluanov explained.

Gazprom's refusal to pay dividends was one of the main events of the summer on the stock market. From the end of 2021 to mid-2022, the top management of the state-owned company boasted of record revenues caused by a sharp increase in gas prices in Europe, against this background, the company's management recommended paying record dividends based on the results of work in 2021. However, the Russian authorities decided to take advantage of the situation and withdraw the company's excess profits with the help of a one-time increase in the mineral extraction tax.

The tax payment will amount to almost 1.25 trillion rubles, which even exceeds the government standard for dividend payments of 50%. The profit of the state-owned company in 2021 amounted to 2.16 trillion rubles, of this amount, 1.08 trillion should have gone to dividends, while private investors could get a little less than 540 billion rubles. At the same time, investors who counted on the state-owned company's dividends not only did not receive dividends, but most likely also suffered losses, since the refusal to pay the shares of the state-owned company collapsed by more than 30%.