Summary
Moscow warns that Western companies that left Russia after its invasion of Ukraine will face consequences if they return.
Russian industry minister Anton Alikhanov stated, “There will be a price to pay for past decisions,” emphasizing a focus on domestic and Eurasian partners.
Nearly 475 firms, including McDonald’s and Ikea, exited following sanctions, though some may consider returning post-war.
Experts note that political, reputational, and economic challenges—amid ongoing inflation, tight monetary policy, and Putin’s authoritarian control—will likely deter a rapid re-entry by Western companies.
That’s not true, lots of companies left, some even at great cost.
Some remained under local names, I think for instance Coco Cola.
We’ve seen recordings of shopping malls where many shops were gone, and many of the remaining shops sold obvious counterfeit western brands.
Also a lot of business is decidedly illegal to continue in Russia due to sanctions.
You can see almost empty malls across the entire Europe nowadays, not everyone likes that commercial model and sometimes they were built in not very thoroughly evaluated places. They’ve been even converted to apartments recently