Russia tries to stop Western companies fleeing the country

[groundloop]

Source: CNN

Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to stem the flow of Western businesses fleeing the country over his decision to wage war on Ukraine.

Capital controls designed to stop the exodus were announced by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, state news agencies TASS and RIA reported on Tuesday. Western companies were taking decisions because of "political pressure," he said, and they would be prevented from selling Russian assets until that pressure subsides.

"To enable businesses to make informed decisions, a draft presidential decree has been prepared to introduce temporary restrictions on exiting Russian assets," Mishustin was quoted as saying. "We expect that those who have invested in our country will be able to continue working here."

Oil giant BP (BP) is one of the most prominent companies to abandon Russia since its troops invaded Ukraine last week. It said Sunday it was planning to exit its 19.75% stake in Russia's biggest oil company, Rosneft, and their joint ventures — amounting to one of the biggest foreign investments in Russia.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/01/investing/russia-economy-capital-controls/index.html

[PortTack]

1. Good luck with that!

[orwell]

2. This will only accelerate the speed of exodus...

...free markets hate restraint.

That is why it is so serious to stop any trading market no matter how dire the situation.

Here's a wild idea, maybe stop killing innocent people in your mad quest to recreate the glorious Russian empire.

Just a thought...

[blue-wave]

3. Ha! Pooty is swimming in his own....

well you know. Keep it up Pooty. Every move you are making is the wrong thing to do. You just keep stepping in it. Your Kremlin buddy's need to grow a pair and carry you out of the Kremlin into the gulag.

[BeyondGeography]

4. "I am sure sanctions pressure will eventually subside."

Sure, Mikhail. One of these years.

[Happy Hoosier]

7. He is counting on the Crimea model....

Where people just came to accept the annexation of Crimea as a Fait Accompli, even if they did not officially recognize it. And then the sanctions drifted away.

I'll admit, I had betted on that model too until Europe decided it was going actually give a shit.

Now I am not so sure that Vlad is right... at least, not until the Russian economy has been enormously damaged.

[SunSeeker]

8. That model would have worked if Putin only took over Donbas.

But Putin got greedy and impatient; he went for the whole country. As the saying goes, pigs get fed, hogs get gored.

[Happy Hoosier]

9. I agree. He may have felt this was his only chance.

Biden rebuilt the partnership with Europe and was supporting Ukraine. He may have thought "now or never" and I think he really thought a quick victory was likely and Europe would just accept it.

Oops.

[Turbineguy]

5. This is like a banana republic nationalizing foreign assets.

[ffr]

6. And all to keep bombing Ukraine??? What about Ukraine is so GD important he

cannot let it go? What the fuck is up with his obsession with that country? Does it have the fountain of youth and he want's that? Is it about to successfully build a time machine and he wants to prevent that?

Can someone explain it to the rest of us? What does he want with Ukraine that is worth bankrupting his own country over and threatening the world with nuclear holocaust?

HIS ACTIONS MAKE COMPLETELY NO RATIONAL SENSE WHATSOEVER!!!!

[SunSeeker]

10. Putin can't have a successful functioning democracy next door full of ethnic Russians.

The impoverished Russians in Russia would realize there is no reason they should not have the same life as their brothers, and they would realize the only difference between them and Ukraine is Russia's autocratic government that runs on bribes, nepotism and mafia connections instead of a meritocracy. They would realize that is why Russia is so poor. And that would be the end of dictator, kleptocrat Putin. All democracies are a threat to Putin. That is why he has worked so hard to undermine them. But Ukraine is really a threat, since so many Russian speakers live there.

[ffr]

12. TY, SS, I suppose then that he's run out of options and must kill and destroy to show how

the Russian/Trump way is the better way, a model for the rest of the world.

I hope Biden mentions something about his tonight then, explaining that to win people over and Putler is attempting, it's usually best not to break out a chainsaw, Scarface style.

[cstanleytech]

11. Much like how companies shy away from investing in Venezuela I think

companies will probably be shy now about investing in Russia unless there is a major regime change for the better.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. "Oil giant BP (BP) is one of the most prominent companies to abandon Russia"

I had heard yesterday that Shell exited as well...

Shell follows BP out of Russia as oil companies abandon Putin


By Mark Thompson, CNN Business

Updated 5:34 AM ET, Tue March 1, 2022


London (CNN Business) Shell is getting out of Russia and ditching its joint ventures with Gazprom, including its involvement with the moribund Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline. The UK-based oil company said Monday it would dump its 27.5% stake in the Sakhalin-2 liquified natural gas facility, its 50% stake in a project to develop the Salym fields in western Siberia and its 50% interest in an exploration project in the Gydan peninsula in northwestern Siberia.

"We are shocked by the loss of life in Ukraine, which we deplore, resulting from a senseless act of military aggression which threatens European security," Shell (RDSA) CEO Ben van Beurden said in a statement.

Shell's move follows BP's (BP) announcement Sunday that it was abandoning one of Russia's biggest foreign investments by exiting its 19.75% stake in Rosneft and associated joint ventures. Analysts said Monday that BP could take a hit of more than $26 billion as it walks away from its business in the country.

Shell earned about $700 million in 2021 from the Sakhalin and Salym joint ventures. Its interests in Russia were valued at about $3 billion at the end of the year, and the company said abandoning the Gazprom projects would probably lead to impairment charges. "Our decision to exit is one we take with conviction," van Beurden said. "We cannot — and we will not — stand by."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/business/shell-russia-gazprom/index.html