March 27, 2026

Data Cutoff: 12:15 PM ET

Grace Mappes, Samuel Shafiro, Kateryna Shymkiv, Justin Young, Anna Thacker, and Kateryna Stepanenko

Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly requested that Russia’s top businessmen provide funding for the Russian government, indicating that the Kremlin may be growing desperate for economic relief and may be setting conditions to nationalize their assets to support the war effort. Russian independent outlet The Bell reported, citing multiple sources familiar with the conversation, that Putin held a closed meeting with Russia’s top businessmen on March 26 in which Putin stated that Russia will continue to fight and called on the businessmen to contribute to the Russian federal budget. Two sources stated that Putin asked for these contributions in the context of Russia continuing the war in Ukraine, implying that the funds will support Russia’s war effort. One source told The Bell that the idea to “shake up business” came from Russian state oil company Rosneft Head Igor Sechin, who reportedly made this proposal and a proposal to issue military bonds as a mechanism for raising funds for Putin on March 25. The Bell reported that Russian Federation Council Senator Suleiman Kerimov immediately pledged 100 billion rubles (about $1.22 billion) to Putin and that another unspecified businessman pledged additional support but did not disclose the amount. Three people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that Putin had asked during the meeting that top businessmen donate money to stabilize Russia’s finances. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin met with Russian businessmen but denied that Putin asked the businessmen for money, that the money is for the war effort, and that the idea came from Sechin. Peskov claimed that one participant discussed the necessity of donating a “very large sum of money” to the Russian state, but emphasized that this is a personal decision.

Putin’s reported request for Russian top businessmen to donate money to the Russian state threatens to break a promise he made to Russian oligarchs to not nationalize their assets soon after seizing power. Putin met with Russian top businessmen in July 2000 and promised to uphold the 1990s privatization of assets that previously belonged to the Soviet Union in exchange for the businessmen staying out of Russian politics and pledging allegiance to Putin. Peskov claimed on March 27 that one of the March 26 meeting participants had noted that most of those who attended the meeting started their businesses in the 1990s and were connected to the Russian state “in one way or another” at the time, so that many of the participants “consider it their duty” to make financial contributions to the Russian state. Putin has repeatedly implied that the Kremlin is against nationalization of property but has been gradually accelerating nationalization efforts during the full-scale invasion. Peskov’s invocation of the 1990s privatization of industrial assets in Russia and implication that the businessmen should consider funding the Russian state to be their “duty” may intend to set a pattern of expected behavior for oligarchs against the backdrop of increasing Russian censorship efforts. The Kremlin’s crackdowns against Telegram and other internet censorship efforts may help neutralize businessmen who could try to resist the Kremlin’s nationalization efforts by weaponizing the information space.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly requested that Russia’s top businessmen provide funding for the Russian government, indicating that the Kremlin may be growing desperate for economic relief and may be setting conditions to nationalize their assets to support the war effort.

• Putin’s reported request for Russian top businessmen to donate money to the Russian state threatens to break a promise he made to Russian oligarchs not to nationalize their assets soon after seizing power.

• Ukraine and Saudi Arabia concluded a defense cooperation agreement on March 27.

• Ukrainian forces continued their long-range strike campaign against Russian oil infrastructure near the Baltic Sea on the night of March 26 to 27, marking the fourth strike in five days against Russian oil infrastructure in Leningrad Oblast.

• Latvia warned on March 27 that Russia launched a cognitive warfare campaign falsely accusing the Baltic states of allowing Ukraine to launch strikes against Russia from the Baltic states’ territories.

• Neither Ukrainian nor Russian forces advanced on March 27.



• Ukrainian forces conducted long-range strikes against the Russian defense industrial base (DIB). Russian forces launched 102 drones against Ukraine.

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