RFE/RLThu, 10 Mar 2022 12:00 UTC
A woman walks past a closed re:Store, an Apple reseller shop, at a mall in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Russia's Economic Development Ministry has drafted legislation aimed at preventing the mounting exit of international businesses from Russia over the war in Ukraine, and potentially laying the groundwork for nationalizing them.
The bill
envisions that the state-owned Vnesheconombank and the state export-guarantee agency
would have the right to seize the property of foreign companies that left Russian markets of their own accord.
The bill comes as a growing number of major international companies have announced they will suspend operations in the country, or pull out altogether, in connection with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The legislation "is the first step toward the nationalization of foreign organizations leaving Russia," said the ruling United Russia party, which dominates parliament and routinely rubber-stamps government or Kremlin initiatives.
Under the bill,
Russia would have a right to take over foreign businesses for up to three months in cases where foreign companies' managers "de facto ceased" to direct the businesses. The bill also states that when foreign companies carry out actions that could lead to their "ungrounded" liquidation or bankruptcy, the government will have up to six months to take them over.
The new companies' shares would be offered for trading, while the old companies would be liquidated. If nobody was interested in owning the new companies, they would be nationalized, the bill says.
According to the
Izvestia newspaper, the ministry has already sent to the government and the Prosecutor-General's Office a list of some 60 foreign companies that have left the Russian market and may be nationalized.
Among other businesses, the list includes Volkswagen, Apple, IKEA, Microsoft, IBM, Shell, McDonald's, Porsche, H&M, and others.Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, said it would close its operations in Russia entirely, making it the first major Wall Street bank to do so. And JPMorgan Chase said it was winding down its Russian banking business.
Speaking at a meeting at the Kremlin on March 10, President Vladimir Putin tried to push back on the Western sanction that have hammered the Russian economy, and could cause severe economic problems in the coming months.
"The pressure of sanctions has always been there. Yes, of course, now it is complex and creates certain challenges, problems, difficulties for us," Putin said, according to a Kremlin
transcript.
"But just as we overcame these difficulties in the previous years, we will overcome them now. We must go through this period. The economy will certainly adapt to the new situation."
Comment: Indeed. And Russia's leadership has been preparing for this tumultuous, if entirely predictable, period, for nearly two decades:
A full-scale economic war has been launched against the country, Anton Siluanov says
Western countries have failed to honor their financial obligations to Russia by imposing economic restrictions, Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday during a government meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
"The West has defaulted on its financial obligations to Russia, has frozen our gold and foreign exchange reserves," the official stated, adding that the measures sum up to a full-scale "financial and economic war" against Russia.
According to Siluanov, the US, EU and their allies are using everything within their powers to restrict foreign trade and imports, which not only damages Russia but impacts the entire global trade.
"Western countries are trying to create a shortage of everyday imported goods in our country, they are forcing the closure of successfully operating enterprises with foreign capital," Siluanov said.
A number of foreign companies have recently announced they would be suspending operations in Russia or quitting the country's market altogether. These include consumer goods and clothing manufacturers, financial, energy, mining and tech companies.
Given the situation Russia is in right now, Siluanov called the stabilization of the financial system a priority for the government. The minister outlined a number of steps which should be taken to do this. The measures he proposed include preventing the outflow of capital from the country and establishing a "special procedure for servicing external debts." According to the minister, some actions have already been implemented and given the first results.
"The situation with the outflow of funds is stabilizing, cash withdrawals have practically stopped, [...] the situation with the balance of payments is improving," Siluanov noted. He added that conditions in the public sector are under control, vowing that authorities would ensure the payment of pensions, benefits and salaries, and would also monitor the availability of medication.
"Non-oil and gas revenues are expected to decline, but this is offset by an increase in oil and gas revenues," he pointed out, noting that these revenues will be used "to reduce borrowing and public debt in the current environment, and finance priority spending."
Siluanov also said that it is important to prevent inflation from growing. The indicator has already reached 2.2% for the week, the highest since 1998, and over 10% year-on-year.
Whilst the West has much more nefarious plans for the world in the works, in many ways, these attacks on Russia are, ultimately, doing Russia a favor. On the subject of culture, China has had to legislate to hamper the West's
corrupting influence on its people, whilst in this instance, the West is doing it for them:
A humorous take on the West's withdrawal from Russian society
See also:
And check out SOTT radio's:
Comment: Indeed. And Russia's leadership has been preparing for this tumultuous, if entirely predictable, period, for nearly two decades: Whilst the West has much more nefarious plans for the world in the works, in many ways, these attacks on Russia are, ultimately, doing Russia a favor. On the subject of culture, China has had to legislate to hamper the West's corrupting influence on its people, whilst in this instance, the West is doing it for them:
- Russia's judo kick to the western financial gut
- Column in Moscow's top progressive newspaper labels West 'New ethical Reich' - Are Russian liberals turning away from EU & US?
- The great awakening vs managerial liberalism: Thoughts on Dugin and the Russian incursion
- Russia's new 'conservative' ideology to counter liberalism
And check out SOTT radio's: