Here is the first fact-based assessment of what has actually happened in Russia as a result of Western Companies leaving. It looks like Putin outplayed the West, at least in the short term. But I must say, those Western corporations did the right thing morally. In the interest of full disclosure when Putin came to power I sold, I believe to KGB operatives, probably Putin-connected, the two companies I had created during the Soviet era, and have never regretted that. What saddens me is that thanks to the morons in the Republican Party who oppose aid to Ukraine, it looks like all this will have been for naught. The MAGAt Republicans in the House just don’t seem to understand what happens if Ukraine loses this war because they did not get the needed assistance from the U.S. and the other Western countries. It will change the course of history in a very sad way if that happens. Hopefully, Biden will find a way to get the aid to Ukraine.
Businesses seized by Putin’s government to their benefit. Credit: The New York Times
Soon after Russian troops invaded his country, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, made a plea to Western companies: “Leave Russia,” he said. “Make sure that the Russians do not receive a single penny.”
Hundreds of companies answered the call. Politicians and activists predicted that it would help strangle the Russian economy and undermine the Kremlin’s war effort.
President Vladimir V. Putin had other plans.
Mr. Putin has turned the exits of major Western companies into a windfall for Russia’s loyal elite and the state itself. He has forced companies wishing to sell to do so at fire-sale prices. He has limited sales to buyers anointed by Moscow. Sometimes he has seized firms outright.
A New York Times investigation traced how Mr. Putin has turned an expected misfortune into an enrichment scheme. Western companies that have announced departures have declared more than $103 billion in losses since the start of the war, according to a Times analysis of financial reports. Mr. Putin has squeezed companies for as much of […]
