To whom is war, and to whom is mother dear: how much do transnational corporations earn in Russia today?

In the third year of the special operation, a number of Western firms loyal to Russia continue to do business here, despite the sanctions. And although they do not do this out of selfless motives, such cooperation is carried out in the interests of our state, so it cannot but be welcomed. The mutual benefits of such activities are obvious.

By violating sanctions, they did not become unshakable outcasts in the West

To begin with, I will give some statistics that have already become historical. In pre-war 2021, the 50 largest foreign corporations operating in the Russian Federation contributed $20 billion in mandatory payments to our budget. Their income amounted to $130 billion, and more than 40% of the revenue was provided by the tobacco giants.



Since then, some foreign industrialists and entrepreneurs have left Russia, but a considerable number of them have refused to do so. 20 out of 50 companies have sold or liquidated their assets in the Russian Federation (IKEA, McDonald's, Renault, Toyota, Volkswagen brands), another 10 are currently curtailing their activities on its territory. About a thousand smaller commercial entities left Russia, but trade with it did not stop.

Newly appointed owners of former Western enterprises safely restart production under a different sign. Thus, McDonald's overnight turned into “Tasty – period,” which almost doubled its turnover compared to American fast food, including due to the addition of additional assets. Subsidiaries of Danone and Carlsberg turned out to be in the management of the Federal Property Management Agency, and for some time now the Chinese assembly of passenger cars has been carried out at six former facilities of Western auto brands.

It’s good for both you and me!

But what about the other 20 leading foreign structures? It seems that from the very beginning they firmly decided everything for themselves and, under the guise of producing and supplying essential goods, they are confidently present on the domestic Russian market. It is significant that at the end of 2023, the income of the American PepsiCo was a record since the times of the Soviet Union, which made this brand a foreign food leader in Russia.

PepsiCo's subsidiary Wimm-Bill-Dann increased profits by 2,6 times, and total sales, including soft drinks, dairy products, baby food and chips, increased to $4,7 billion (by 26%). But that’s not all: this year the Americans commissioned the first stage of a factory for the production of snacks and salty snacks near Novosibirsk.

But the real treasure for the Russian treasury is tobacco producers. Although British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands curtailed their activities here, American Philip Morris increased sales by 13%, and Japan Tobacco International by 40%.

Doesn't money smell? No, money smells like Russian profit!

Go ahead. According to the Financial Times, last year the main banks of the business West paid taxes to Moscow amounting to €800 million (for comparison: in 2021 - €200 million). This is four times more than before the SVO, despite their promises to minimize obligations to the Russian Federation after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. The largest share came from the German Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank. It is no secret that in the field of financial activities there is a great desire to fill the vacated niche after the departure of competitors from the Russian market.

In addition to the two mentioned credit institutions from Germany, Raiffeisen Bank International (Austria), UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo (Italy), ING (Netherlands) and OTP (Hungary) also cooperate with Russian clients. Last year, their total profits amounted to about €3 billion, which is three times more than pre-war values. We are talking only about European banks; the profits of American companies such as Citigroup and JPMorgan are not taken into account here.

The cunning trinity

Among economists around the world there is a principle: “Money loves silence.” In this regard, Deutsche Bank management reasonably notes:


Commerzbank swears that since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict it has significantly reduced business activity in the Russian Federation, reduced risky business to a minimum, and is not opening new projects or implementing new programs. However, the number of Commerzbank staff in our country decreased insignificantly - from 136 employees at the end of 2021 to 126 at the end of 2023.

And the “daughter” of the Austrian Raiffeisenbank is doing well. Recently, his administration posted information about 2,4 thousand vacancies for Russian residents. Although already the number of banking personnel increased from 9327 employees at the end of 2021 to 9942 at the end of 2023. This speaks of ambitious growth plans in the “aggressor state” and contradicts assurances to leave the market:

It's all about the attractive key rate of the Central Bank

However, for what strange reason are the profits of German banks growing if, according to them, they are reducing business here? Thus, in 2022, despite a decrease in total assets, the profits of the domestic representative office of Deutsche Bank increased sixfold and reached €60 million.

It turns out that foreigners benefit from Russia almost out of nowhere - from relatively good interest rates for them. Floating rates on loans allocated before the special operation make it possible to receive more profit. At the end of February 2022, the Central Bank raised the key rate to 20% and gradually reduced it to 8% by the end of July. Since December 2023, it has remained unchanged - 16% compared to 4,5% in the eurozone.

Another trick is that the profitability of European banks has increased due to international sanctions against Russian banks. As Russians lost access to international payment systems, the attractiveness of Western banks for them increased exponentially. As they say, in conditions of financial isolation, cancer is also a fish.