Major international companies that have ceased operations in Russia since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine have collectively suffered losses of more than 103 billion dollars (approximately 94.4 billion euros). This has recently become apparent investigation by The New York Times (NOW).
At the same time, the departure of Western companies has proven to be very lucrative for Moscow. Companies that wanted to close their Russian branches were often forced to sell them at very low prices. According to the NYT, President Putin has enabled major Russian business tycoons to make favorable deals, and some companies have even been directly seized by the state.
The Dutch beer producer Heineken is one of the victims. Last spring, after international outrage over the fact that it had continued operations in Russia for a long time, the company found a buyer for the Russian shares. However, according to NYT, the Russian government ignored this, after which the shares ended up in the hands of a Russian aerosol manufacturer for just one euro.
The research also shows that the departure of companies was not only beneficial for Russian businessmen, but also for the state treasury. Putin imposed high taxes on companies that wanted to sell their Russian shares and branches, which, according to the NYT, resulted in adding at least 1.25 billion dollars to the public coffers (approximately 1.14 billion euros).
Eva Selderbeek
2023-12-18 15:45:00
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