Russia Threatens to Nationalize Foreign Companies that Ceased Operations over Ukraine War

The “Public Consumer Initiative” has sent a list of foreign companies that could be nationalized in the future to the Russian government and country’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

A host of foreign companies including McDonald's, Audo, VW and KFC could have their assets seized if the Russian begins to take action against them for violating the terms of agreement with their local partners.

The list is reported to include about 60 companies that have announced the termination of work in the territory of the Russian Federation without providing guarantees to consumers. Among them: Volkswagen, Apple, IKEA, Microsoft, IBM, Shell, McDonald's, Porsche, Toyota, H&M.

“Law enforcement agencies, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Rospotrebnadzor will also be involved in the work on this list, each in part of its competence. Of course, the list is open. As soon as there are companies that announce their withdrawal without providing guarantees to Russian consumers, they are brought there. Accordingly, administrative, criminal and judicial procedures will be applied to them,” Izvestia reported Oleg Pavlov, head of the Public Consumer Initiative as saying.

This action followed the sanctions announced by a number of states against Russia, and some large companies announced their withdrawal from the Russian market. These companies include, among others, Coca-Cola and Starbucks. On March 10, the international payment systems Visa and Mastercard suspended their work on the territory of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the cards of these systems, which were issued by Russian banks, will continue to function on the territory of our country as before, however, they cannot be used abroad, make cross-border transactions with their help, and use them in Apple Pay and Google Pay services.