Latest news with #Western
The Hill
42 minutes ago
- Business
- The Hill
Trump and Putin hint at US-Russia trade revival, but business environment remains hostile
Hundreds of foreign companies left Russia after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, including major U.S. firms like Coca-Cola, Nike, Starbucks, ExxonMobil and Ford Motor Co. But after more than three years of war, President Donald Trump has held out the prospect of restoring U.S.-Russia trade if there's ever a peace settlement. And Russian President Vladimir Putin has said foreign companies could come back under some circumstances. 'Russia wants to do largescale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic 'bloodbath' is over, and I agree,' Trump said in a statement after a phone call with Putin. 'There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED.' The president then shifted his tone toward Putin after heavy drone and missile attacks on Kyiv, saying Putin 'has gone absolutely crazy' and threatening new sanctions. That and recent comments from Putin warning Western companies against reclaiming their former stakes seemed to reflect reality more accurately — that it's not going to be a smooth process for businesses going back into Russia. That's because Russia's business environment has massively changed since 2022. And not in ways that favor foreign companies. And with Putin escalating attacks and holding on to territory demands Ukraine likely isn't going to accept, a peace deal seems distant indeed. Here are factors that could deter U.S. companies from ever going back: Russian law classifies Ukraine's allies as 'unfriendly states' and imposes severe restrictions on businesses from more than 50 countries. Those include limits on withdrawing money and equipment as well as allowing the Russian government to take control of companies deemed important. Foreign owners' votes on boards of directors can be legally disregarded. Companies that left were required to sell their businesses for 50% or less of their assessed worth, or simply wrote them off while Kremlin-friendly business groups snapped up their assets on the cheap. Under a 2023 presidential decree the Russian government took control of Finnish energy company Fortum, German power company Unipro, France's dairy company Danone and Danish brewer Carlsberg. Even if a peace deal removed the U.S. from the list of unfriendlies, and if the massive Western sanctions restricting business in Russia were dropped, the track record of losses would remain vivid. And there's little sign any of that is going to happen. While the Russian government has talked in general about companies coming back, 'there's no specific evidence of any one company saying that they are ready to come back,' said Chris Weafer, CEO of Macro-Advisory Ltd. consultancy. 'It's all at the political narrative level.' Russia's actions and legal changes have left 'long-lasting damage' to its business environment, says Elina Ribakova, non-resident senior fellow at the Bruegel research institute in Brussels. She said a return of U.S. businesses is 'not very likely.' In a meeting at the Kremlin on May 26 to mark Russian Entrepreneurs Day, Putin said that Russia needed to throttle large tech firms such as Zoom and Microsoft, which had restricted their services in Russia after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, so that domestic tech companies could thrive instead. 'We need to strangle them,' Putin said. 'After all, they are trying to strangle us: we need to reciprocate. We didn't kick anyone out; we didn't interfere with anyone. We provided the most favorable conditions possible for their work here, in our market, and they are trying to strangle us.' He reassured a representative from Vkusno-i Tochka (Tasty-period) — the Russian-owned company that took over McDonald's restaurants in the country — that Moscow would aid them if the U.S. fast food giant tried to buy back its former stores. Asked for comment, McDonald's referred to their 2022 statement that 'ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable.' On top of Russia's difficult business environment, the economy is likely to stagnate due to lack of investment in sectors other than the military, economists say. 'Russia has one of the lowest projected long-term growth rates and one of the highest levels of country risk in the world,' says Heli Simola, senior economist at the Bank of Finland in a blog post. 'Only Belarus offers an equally lousy combination of growth and risk.' Most of the opportunity to make money is related to military production, and it's unlikely U.S. companies would work with the Russian military-industrial complex, said Ribakova. 'It's not clear where exactly one could plug in and expect outsize returns that would compensate for this negative investment environment.' Some companies, including Renault and Ford Motor Co., left with repurchase agreements letting them buy back their stakes years later if conditions change. But given Russia's unsteady legal environment, that's tough to count on. The Russian purchasers may try to change the terms, look for more money, or ignore the agreements, said Weafer. 'There's a lot of uncertainty as to how those buyback auctions will be enforced.' Multinational oil companies were among those who suffered losses leaving Russia, so it's an open question whether they would want to try again even given Russia's vast oil and gas reserves. US.. major ExxonMobil saw its stake in the Sakhalin oil project unilaterally terminated and wrote off $3.4 billion. Russia's major oil companies have less need of foreign partners than they did in the immediate post-Soviet era, though smaller oil field services might want to return given the size of Russia's oil industry. But they would have to face new requirements on establishing local presence and investment, Weafer said. According to the Kyiv School of Economics, 2,329 foreign companies are still doing business in Russia, many from China or other countries that aren't allied with Ukraine, while 1,344 are in the process of leaving and 494 have exited completely. The Yale School of Management's Chief Executive Leadership Institute lists some two dozen U.S. companies still doing business in Russia, while some 100 more have cut back by halting new investments. U.S. sanctions are considered the toughest, because they carry the threat of being cut off from the U.S. banking and financial system. But the EU is still slapping new rounds of sanctions on Russia. Even if U.S. sanctions are dropped, EU sanctions would continue to present compliance headaches for any company that also wants to do business in Europe.
Mint
an hour ago
- Business
- Mint
Trump, Putin hint at US-Russia trade revival, but business environment remains hostile
Moscow, Hundreds of foreign companies left Russia after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, including major US firms like Coca-Cola, Nike, Starbucks, ExxonMobil and Ford Motor Co. But after more than three years of war, President Donald Trump has held out the prospect of restoring US-Russia trade if there's ever a peace settlement. And Russian President Vladimir Putin has said foreign companies could come back under some circumstances. 'Russia wants to do large scale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic bloodbath' is over, and I agree,' Trump said in a statement after a phone call with Putin. 'There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED.' The president then shifted his tone toward Putin after heavy drone and missile attacks on Kyiv, saying Putin 'has gone absolutely crazy' and threatening new sanctions. Recent comments from Putin warning Western companies against reclaiming their former stakes seemed to reflect reality more accurately — that it's not going to be a smooth process for businesses going back into Russia. That's because Russia's business environment has massively changed since 2022. And not in ways that favor foreign companies. And with Putin escalating attacks and holding on to territory demands Ukraine likely isn't going to accept, a peace deal seems distant indeed. Here are factors that could deter U.S. companies from ever going back: Russian law classifies Ukraine's allies as 'unfriendly states' and imposes severe restrictions on businesses from more than 50 countries. Those include limits on withdrawing money and equipment as well as allowing the Russian government to take control of companies deemed important. Foreign owners' votes on boards of directors can be legally disregarded. Companies that left were required to sell their businesses for 50% or less of their assessed worth, or simply wrote them off while Kremlin-friendly business groups snapped up their assets on the cheap. Under a 2023 presidential decree the Russian government took control of Finnish energy company Fortum, German power company Unipro, France's dairy company Danone and Danish brewer Carlsberg. Even if a peace deal removed the US from the list of unfriendlies, and if the massive Western sanctions restricting business in Russia were dropped, the track record of losses would remain vivid. And there's little sign any of that is going to happen. While the Russian government has talked in general about companies coming back, 'there's no specific evidence of any one company saying that they are ready to come back,' said Chris Weafer, CEO of Macro-Advisory Ltd. consultancy. 'It's all at the political narrative level.' Russia's actions and legal changes have left 'long-lasting damage' to its business environment, says Elina Ribakova, non-resident senior fellow at the Bruegel research institute in Brussels. She said a return of US businesses is 'not very likely.' In a meeting at the Kremlin on May 26 to mark Russian Entrepreneurs Day, Putin said that Russia needed to throttle large tech firms such as Zoom and Microsoft, which had restricted their services in Russia after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, so that domestic tech companies could thrive instead. 'We need to strangle them,' Putin said. 'After all, they are trying to strangle us: we need to reciprocate. We didn't kick anyone out; we didn't interfere with anyone. We provided the most favorable conditions possible for their work here, in our market, and they are trying to strangle us.' He reassured a representative from Vkusno-i Tochka — the Russian-owned company that took over McDonald's restaurants in the country — that Moscow would aid them if the US fast food giant tried to buy back its former stores. Asked for comment, McDonald's referred to their 2022 statement that 'ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable.' On top of Russia's difficult business environment, the economy is likely to stagnate due to lack of investment in sectors other than the military, economists say. 'Russia has one of the lowest projected long-term growth rates and one of the highest levels of country risk in the world,' says Heli Simola, senior economist at the Bank of Finland in a blog post. 'Only Belarus offers an equally lousy combination of growth and risk.' Most of the opportunity to make money is related to military production, and it's unlikely US companies would work with the Russian military-industrial complex, said Ribakova. 'It's not clear where exactly one could plug in and expect outsize returns that would compensate for this negative investment environment.' Some companies, including Renault and Ford Motor Co, left with repurchase agreements letting them buy back their stakes years later if conditions change. But given Russia's unsteady legal environment, that's tough to count on. The Russian purchasers may try to change the terms, look for more money, or ignore the agreements, said Weafer. 'There's a lot of uncertainty as to how those buyback auctions will be enforced.' But what about the oil and gas? Multinational oil companies were among those who suffered losses leaving Russia, so it's an open question whether they would want to try again even given Russia's vast oil and gas reserves. US.. major ExxonMobil saw its stake in the Sakhalin oil project unilaterally terminated and wrote off $3.4 billion. Russia's major oil companies have less need of foreign partners than they did in the immediate post-Soviet era, though smaller oil field services might want to return given the size of Russia's oil industry. But they would have to face new requirements on establishing local presence and investment, Weafer said. According to the Kyiv School of Economics, 2,329 foreign companies are still doing business in Russia, many from China or other countries that aren't allied with Ukraine, while 1,344 are in the process of leaving and 494 have exited completely. The Yale School of Management's Chief Executive Leadership Institute lists some two dozen US companies still doing business in Russia, while some 100 more have cut back by halting new investments. EU sanctions could remain even if US open US sanctions are considered the toughest, because they carry the threat of being cut off from the U.S. banking and financial system. But the EU is still slapping new rounds of sanctions on Russia. Even if U.S. sanctions are dropped, EU sanctions would continue to present compliance headaches for any company that also wants to do business in Europe. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Trump and Putin hint at US-Russia trade revival, but business environment remains hostile
Hundreds of foreign companies left Russia after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, including major U.S. firms like Coca-Cola, Nike, Starbucks, ExxonMobil and Ford Motor Co. But after more than three years of war, President Donald Trump has held out the prospect of restoring U.S.-Russia trade if there's ever a peace settlement. And Russian President Vladimir Putin has said foreign companies could come back under some circumstances. 'Russia wants to do largescale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic 'bloodbath' is over, and I agree,' Trump said in a statement after a phone call with Putin. 'There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED.' The president then shifted his tone toward Putin after heavy drone and missile attacks on Kyiv, saying Putin 'has gone absolutely crazy' and threatening new sanctions. That and recent comments from Putin warning Western companies against reclaiming their former stakes seemed to reflect reality more accurately — that it's not going to be a smooth process for businesses going back into Russia. That's because Russia's business environment has massively changed since 2022. And not in ways that favor foreign companies. And with Putin escalating attacks and holding on to territory demands Ukraine likely isn't going to accept, a peace deal seems distant indeed. Here are factors that could deter U.S. companies from ever going back: Russian law classifies Ukraine's allies as 'unfriendly states' and imposes severe restrictions on businesses from more than 50 countries. Those include limits on withdrawing money and equipment as well as allowing the Russian government to take control of companies deemed important. Foreign owners' votes on boards of directors can be legally disregarded. Companies that left were required to sell their businesses for 50% or less of their assessed worth, or simply wrote them off while Kremlin-friendly business groups snapped up their assets on the cheap. Under a 2023 presidential decree the Russian government took control of Finnish energy company Fortum, German power company Unipro, France's dairy company Danone and Danish brewer Carlsberg. Even if a peace deal removed the U.S. from the list of unfriendlies, and if the massive Western sanctions restricting business in Russia were dropped, the track record of losses would remain vivid. And there's little sign any of that is going to happen. While the Russian government has talked in general about companies coming back, 'there's no specific evidence of any one company saying that they are ready to come back,' said Chris Weafer, CEO of Macro-Advisory Ltd. consultancy. 'It's all at the political narrative level.' Russia's actions and legal changes have left 'long-lasting damage' to its business environment, says Elina Ribakova, non-resident senior fellow at the Bruegel research institute in Brussels. She said a return of U.S. businesses is 'not very likely.' In a meeting at the Kremlin on May 26 to mark Russian Entrepreneurs Day, Putin said that Russia needed to throttle large tech firms such as Zoom and Microsoft, which had restricted their services in Russia after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, so that domestic tech companies could thrive instead. 'We need to strangle them,' Putin said. 'After all, they are trying to strangle us: we need to reciprocate. We didn't kick anyone out; we didn't interfere with anyone. We provided the most favorable conditions possible for their work here, in our market, and they are trying to strangle us.' He reassured a representative from Vkusno-i Tochka — the Russian-owned company that took over McDonald's restaurants in the country — that Moscow would aid them if the U.S. fast food giant tried to buy back its former stores. Asked for comment, McDonald's referred to their 2022 statement that 'ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable.' On top of Russia's difficult business environment, the economy is likely to stagnate due to lack of investment in sectors other than the military, economists say. 'Russia has one of the lowest projected long-term growth rates and one of the highest levels of country risk in the world,' says Heli Simola, senior economist at the Bank of Finland in a blog post. 'Only Belarus offers an equally lousy combination of growth and risk.' Most of the opportunity to make money is related to military production, and it's unlikely U.S. companies would work with the Russian military-industrial complex, said Ribakova. 'It's not clear where exactly one could plug in and expect outsize returns that would compensate for this negative investment environment.' Some companies, including Renault and Ford Motor Co., left with repurchase agreements letting them buy back their stakes years later if conditions change. But given Russia's unsteady legal environment, that's tough to count on. The Russian purchasers may try to change the terms, look for more money, or ignore the agreements, said Weafer. 'There's a lot of uncertainty as to how those buyback auctions will be enforced.' Multinational oil companies were among those who suffered losses leaving Russia, so it's an open question whether they would want to try again even given Russia's vast oil and gas reserves. US.. major ExxonMobil saw its stake in the Sakhalin oil project unilaterally terminated and wrote off $3.4 billion. Russia's major oil companies have less need of foreign partners than they did in the immediate post-Soviet era, though smaller oil field services might want to return given the size of Russia's oil industry. But they would have to face new requirements on establishing local presence and investment, Weafer said. According to the Kyiv School of Economics, 2,329 foreign companies are still doing business in Russia, many from China or other countries that aren't allied with Ukraine, while 1,344 are in the process of leaving and 494 have exited completely. The Yale School of Management's Chief Executive Leadership Institute lists some two dozen U.S. companies still doing business in Russia, while some 100 more have cut back by halting new investments. U.S. sanctions are considered the toughest, because they carry the threat of being cut off from the U.S. banking and financial system. But the EU is still slapping new rounds of sanctions on Russia. Even if U.S. sanctions are dropped, EU sanctions would continue to present compliance headaches for any company that also wants to do business in Europe.
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Op Shield: Punjab all set for mock drills today
With a statewide civil defence mock drill scheduled for Saturday, Punjab's special director general of police (DGP) Sanjeev Kalra said large-scale emergency situations will be simulated in all districts, starting 6 pm. Kalra said, 'The mock drill is a part of Operation Shield and is being conducted in all districts of states on the Western border.' Additional deputy commissioner (ADC), urban development, Amritsar, Amit Sareen, said, 'A blackout drill will be conducted in the district from 8 pm to 8.30 pm. Inner areas of the district will be exempted.' In Ferozepur, deputy commissioner Deepshikha Sharma said sirens will be sounded in the city and cantonment areas between 6 pm and 6.30 pm, followed by a voluntary blackout from 9 pm to 9.30 pm in the same zones. In Fazilka, DC Amarpreet Kaur Sandhu said the drill will be carried out from 6 pm to 7 pm. ADC Sareen appealed to residents to switch off all exterior lights, including automatic lights on cameras and lights running on inverters, as soon as the sirens go off at 8 pm. 'If you need to keep lights on inside the house, make sure to use heavy curtains or similar arrangements so that light does not escape outside through windows. During the blackout, the safest place is the ground floor or basement. So, practice sitting in the middle of a room on the ground floor. Try to sit in a place where there is no glass window nearby,' said Sareen. He added, 'Do not go to the rooftop, street, or any open space during the blackout. Those who are driving on the road at that time should turn off their vehicle's lights — whether it's a car, scooter, or motorcycle — and pull over to the side of the road'. Authorities of all three districts assured residents that it is a routine preparedness exercise aimed at enhancing public awareness and readiness in case of emergencies and said that there is no reason to panic.
Yomiuri Shimbun
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Ukraine Says It's Ready to Resume Talks with Russia but Needs Clarity on Kremlin's Terms
The Associated Press In this photo taken on May 27, 2025 and provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier prepares a 120mm mortar to fire towards Russian army positions near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 27, 2025 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday, a top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, following days of uncertainty over whether Kyiv would attend a further meeting proposed by Moscow. But Ukrainian officials have insisted that the Kremlin provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the more than three-year war, before the two delegations sit down to negotiate. 'Ukraine is ready to attend the next meeting, but we want to engage in a constructive discussion,' Andrii Yermak said in a statement on the website of Ukraine's Presidential Office late Thursday. 'This means it is important to receive Russia's draft. There is enough time – four days are sufficient for preparing and sending the documents,' Yermak said. Ukraine and its European allies have repeatedly accused the Kremlin of dragging its feet in peace efforts, while it tries to press its bigger army's battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land. Kyiv's Western partners, including the U.S., are urging Moscow to agree to an unconditional ceasefire, something Kyiv has embraced while the Kremlin has held out for terms more to its liking. Ukraine's top diplomat, Andrii Sybiha, also told reporters on Friday that Kyiv is waiting for Russia to clarify its proposals ahead of a next round of talks. 'We want to end this war this year. We are interested in establishing a ceasefire, whether it is for 30 days, 50 days, or 100 days. Ukraine is open to discussing this directly with Russia,' Sybiha said at a joint news conference in Kyiv with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. Sybiha and Fidan also held the door open to a future meeting between Presidents Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin of Russia, possibly also including U.S. President Donald Trump. Fidan said the ongoing peace push in Istanbul could be 'crowned with' such a meeting. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday told reporters that a Russian delegation will head to Istanbul and stand ready to take part in the second round of talks on June 2. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday publicly invited Ukraine to hold direct negotiations with Moscow on that date. In a video statement, Lavrov said Russia would use Monday's meeting to deliver an outline of Moscow's position on 'reliably overcoming' what it calls the root causes of the war. Russian officials have said for weeks that such a document is forthcoming. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov on Wednesday said that Ukraine isn't opposed to further direct talks with Russia, but that they would be 'empty' if Moscow were to fail to clarify its terms. Umerov said he had personally handed a document setting out Ukraine's position to the Russian side. Low-level delegations from Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks in three years in Istanbul on May 16. The talks, which lasted two hours, brought no significant breakthrough, although both sides agreed to the largest prisoner exchange of the war. It was carried out last weekend and freed 1,000 captives on each side. Fidan on Friday voiced a belief that the successful swap has 'proved that negotiations can yield concrete results.' 'There are two paths in front of us. Either we will turn a blind eye to the continuation of the war, or we will reach a lasting peace within the end of the year,' he told reporters in Kyiv.
