“All the best,” Putin chuckled. He waved to Western companies that boycotted the Russian market

Dozens of Western companies - food, clothing, restaurant chains, consulting and law firms - have made a massive exodus from the Russian market. Literally a dozen or so days after the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the first companies announced the suspension of activities in Russia, and over time, when it became clear that the conflict would not end soon, they announced the final cessation of activities in this country. .

Russian media claim that this did not worsen the quality of life of Russians. In fact, the biggest losers are the companies themselves, which have lost Russian customers.

– Today, many Western companies are leaving our market under pressure from their governments. All the best to them,” Putin said, quoting Reuters. These words were to be spoken at a meeting with secretaries of the security councils and national security advisers, which took place on February 8 in Moscow.

Putin says Russian companies benefit from market boycott

“Nothing has collapsed and nothing is falling apart. Our companies and entrepreneurs take these enterprises, and even entire industries, into their own hands, and continue this work with great success,” the president said.

Ironically, in the presence of politicians, Putin kept silent about the fact that if the exit of the McDonald’s chain from Russia did not significantly affect the Russian economy, then the deprivation of Russian companies of spare parts for aircraft did. The fact is that the sanctions did not break the Russian economy, but they certainly did weakened it considerably. The revenues of the Russian state fell several times over the year: in January, budget revenues from taxes amounted to 400 billion rubles (equivalent to 24.8 billion zlotys), that is, they decreased five times over the year.

In the weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, they amounted to as much as 2 trillion rubles (equivalent to 124 billion zlotys). At the same time, monthly budget expenditures have grown shockingly - from 1.9 trillion rubles (January 2022) to 3.3 trillion rubles, Rzeczpospolita calculates.

The list of shame was reduced, but not reset

And how many Western companies have ceased their activities in Russia? Researchers from Yale University have compiled and are constantly updating a list of international companies that continued to work in Russia after the start of aggression in Ukraine. It was hailed by the media as a shame list, and consumers pressured the corporations still on it to decide to leave Russia. There were also short-term consumer boycotts and protests in front of these headquarters. The owner of the Auchan, Decathlon and Leroy Merlin retail chains was subjected to very harsh criticism. He not only ensured that these stores did not disappear from Russia from the very beginning, but also, in leaked media reports, urged Russian suppliers to increase cooperation in order to fill the vacancy after the departure of competitors.

What does the “lit of shame” look like almost a year after the start of the war? From lists prepared by the Swiss University of St. Gallen and American Yale show that of the 1,400 companies from the European Union and the G7 countries that had branches in Russia before the war, only 120 got rid of at least one branch by November 2022, according to the Eurointelligence think tank in Brussels. .