Foreign companies working in Russia have lost $107 billion in the exodus from the country, claims a recent analysis by Reuters. The report claims that the loss, calculated from company filings, has actually increased by one-third since last year in August. According to the Russian state-owned agency Tass, over one thousand Western firms have either exited or curtailed operations in Russia once the war with Ukraine began.
Analysts believe the exodus will deprive Russia of skilled Western labour. The loss however cuts both ways. A RIA news report claimed that the West will lose assets and investments worth at least $288 billion if it confiscates frozen Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine and Moscow.
Russia was hit by sanctions just after the war when Western nations froze around $300 billion of the Bank of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves after the invasion of Ukraine. Further sanctions have been added in February by the West and some Western media reports claim that the new sanctions are deterring China, Turkey, UAE, and even India, from buying more Russian oil. Russia is also reported to be facing a problem of deferred payments as banks in the UAE and elsewhere become more cautious.
A Guardian report claims the exodus of foreign firms has resulted in a financial windfall for the Kremlin’s patrons. To exit the country, Western companies have been forced to sell their assets at knockdown prices to the state. A eport revealed that Timati, a popular Russian rapper who supports Putin, snapped up hundreds of Starbucks and Domino’s Pizza stores across the country and rebranded them as Russian.
Russians have been angered by the sanctions which they view as unfair and the “buy Russian” slogan and the boycott of Western firms has proved popular. The recent re-election of President Putin has only soldified this belief.
