Russian strongman Vladimir Putin has rubber-stamped the sale of Citi’s Russian banking operations to Renaissance Capital, an investment firm that belongs to billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the former owner of the Brooklyn Nets.

The presidential order was published on the Kremlin’s website on Wednesday, confirming a key step in the Jane Fraser-led lender’s planned exit from Russia, three years after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Renaissance Capital is part of Prokhorov’s Onexim conglomerate.

The 60-year-old, who sold the NBA outfit to Joseph Tsai for $2.3 billion in 2019 amid reported pressure from Putin , fled to Israel two months after Russia invaded its smaller neighbor.

The sale to Renaissance, which had been complicated by wider Wester

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