Kremlin: Foreign companies want to return to Russia

Western companies have emigrated en masse in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine — but the Kremlin says many are hoping to return.

“Many companies from Western countries – including from the EU countries, the USA and Canada – remain interested in the Russian market,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today, according to the Interfax agency. The background is the international economic forum in St. Petersburg, which starts tomorrow and lasts until Saturday.

Under “unprecedented pressure,” Western companies stopped working, Peskow added. “But still they say they want to come back at the first opportunity.”

International corporations such as H&M and Ikea have suspended their business in Russia since the end of March. Other companies – including McDonald’s – ceased operations for good. McDonald’s sold all 850 stores to a Russian investor, who plans to reopen them in the coming weeks under the new name “Vkusno i tochka” (“Tasty and point”).

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