FIAC discusses foreign companies wishing to return to Russia
At least seven foreign companies which left Russia after February 2022 are not ruling out a return to the Russian market. This information is quoted by RBC from a joint study conducted by the Foreign Investment Advisory Council in Russia (FIAC), the Ministry of Economic Development, and B1 professional services group.
For the study, the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia helped arrange interviews with 13 foreign companies that had left the country. Of these, seven responded that they were "considering a return".
The survey was anonymous, so the specific companies cannot be named, said Alexander Ivlev, coordinator of FIAC's foreign participants. He emphasised that very few companies have real plans or are developing concrete steps to return. "There are companies that are discussing it, but things are only at the discussion phase. Some American companies are discussing the topic. They are few in number, but they are already talking about it. In Europe, few companies are so far counting on a return," he said. In addition, Ivlev said, there is interest from Asia – South Korea and Japan.
Ivlev believes that the return of foreign companies will most likely begin in 2026.
Large international companies have repeatedly stated that they will only consider returning to Russia when geopolitical conditions change. Oscar Garcia Maceiras, CEO of the Spanish company Inditex (which owns the clothing brands Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear and others), told the Financial Times that conditions for businesses to return to Russia are not suitable at the moment. Asked under what conditions the company could re-enter the Russian market, Maceiras said, "Certainly not the conditions we have now." He said any decision to return to Russia would only be made in a "more favourable geopolitical environment".
FIAC's study covered international companies operating in Russia and those in which management was completely converted to comprise Russian managers. No information on the return of foreign corporations that transferred their business to local management and left Russia could be obtained. "When asked to assess the possibility of a foreign parent company returning to Russia, 100 percent of respondents indicated that they have no such information yet," the report says.
Discussing why companies remained in the Russian market, the most frequent reasons given by the survey participants were that they consider their operations to be socially important for the general public (63% responded thus) and that they have a responsibility to their Russian employees (59%). In addition, 46% of respondents believed that "politics has nothing to do with their business". About one in four companies (24%) said that Russia is a key market.
However, over the past 18 months since the last survey, more companies have faced restrictions and difficulties in their operations. For example, the share of companies that have experienced logistical difficulties has increased from 63% to 77%, and over the past year 74% (vs. 60% in 2023) have had to find new suppliers of raw materials, equipment and services. In addition, the proportion of companies that had difficulty hiring staff increased from 34% to 45%.