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Vladimir Putin has ordered his cabinet to prepare for the return of western companies, flaunting a potential corporate renaissance from the unfolding US-Russia rapprochement.
Russia’s president said on Friday he wanted Russian companies to have “certain advantages” over “those that return to our market” as payback for western sanctions.
While the measures would be defensive, the comments are the first top-level indication that Russia is serious about welcoming back western companies after Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago sparked a corporate exodus.
Since then, 472 foreign companies have left the Russian market, with another 1,360 scaling back their presence in the country, according to data compiled by the Kyiv School of Economics Institute.
Putin’s call with his US counterpart Donald Trump last week were followed by the countries’ first high-level talks in three years in Saudi Arabia, where both sides expressed an interest in resuming economic co-operation.
Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian sovereign wealth fund head who helped broker the talks, claims US companies lost $324bn from pulling out of the country and has said he expects some of them to return this year.
The KSE institute says US companies only had $52bn in assets in Russia, while US companies that left generated just $36bn from 2021 to 2023.
A handful of US companies have expressed tentative interest in resuming their Russian operations, according to people familiar with the matter, although none have yet taken any active steps to return.
Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia should only let western companies into sectors “where there will be no risks for the economy” in case “anyone gets off on the wrong foot again.”
The prospect of western businesses returning to Russia has prompted an unusually active public discussion among senior officials. While some have indicated the likes of Visa and Mastercard, as well as several western luxury brands, would be welcome, others have said they should take a back seat to their Russian ersatz replacements.
Denis Manturov, first deputy prime minister, said Russia would “consider the return of those who fled” before “finding a solution with those who we have an interest in working with”.
Manturov said detailed discussions were unlikely until western countries rolled back sanctions, a prospect the US floated after the talks in Saudi Arabia.
Manturov said Russia was prepared to discuss resuming co-operation with Boeing, which was previously one of the largest buyers of Russian titanium, but admitted the cabinet had held no discussions with the US aircraft manufacturer.
Other officials have implied western companies would find it hard to claw back their market position after local players — in many cases, with strong links to senior Kremlin figures — emerged to replace them.
Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Friday that Renault would “hardly have a chance” of returning to Russia after the company’s chief executive refused to rule out the prospect.
The French carmaker sold its controlling stake in Russian car producer Avtovaz for Rbs2 in 2022, amounting to a €2.2bn writedown. But it maintains a six-year buyback option.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said western companies were “not economic operators, but instruments used by hostile regimes in a hybrid war against Russia [that] they agreed to take part in”. She threatened “consequences” for companies whose countries showed insufficient respect to the Russian and Soviet armies.
