MOSCOW (Realist English). The decision on the exodus of foreign companies from the Russian market has nothing to do with business – it is pure politics, according to Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev.
“Washington and Brussels, dancing to its tune, cannot calm down in any way, coming up with more and more stupid bans, because they cannot really respond to Russia. They’re funny. They want private companies to participate in the parade of these moronic restrictions. I sincerely feel sorry for them. Narrow-minded Russophobic officials do not care that people in Europe and in Russia may lose their jobs and incomes because of these stupid, counterintuitive decisions. The main task of politicians is to exert tough pressure on the shareholders of enterprises, to force them to obey their will. They also do not take into account the unwillingness of foreign business to leave Russia, its potential losses,” he wrote on his VKontakte page.
The deputy Chairman of the Security Council warned the West that Russia will respond to this in a principled way and harshly:
“I recently wrote that Russia will not put up with the gratuitous seizure of property of Russian citizens and companies abroad. And I spoke about the need for a symmetrical response, including the seizure of foreign assets and their possible nationalization. The same applies to the refusal of foreign companies to work in our country. Bending under the sanctions, they actually abandon their teams to the mercy of fate. The Russian government is already working on measures, which include bankruptcy and nationalization of the property of such foreign organizations. The primary task is to prevent people from throwing them out on the street, to create new production facilities based on those enterprises abandoned in panic by foreign investors. This approach is objective and fair.”
Medvedev stressed that whatever the reasons for the exodus, foreign companies should understand that it will not be easy to return to our market.
“An example is 2014, when the efforts of the West also caused panic from scratch and sanctions were imposed. However, over the past time, our country, responding to these actions with symmetrical restrictions, has managed to ensure food security, solve a number of issues in the field of import substitution. We can handle it now as wewll. After all, we are ourselves able to produce cutlets and buns, and of excellent quality,” he concluded.
Since the beginning of the military operation in the Ukraine, more than 300 foreign companies have announced the suspension or termination of their activities in Russia, Yale University reported.
