Russia’s richest businessman Vladimir Potanin has spoken out against government’s plan to confiscate the assets of foreign corporate giants that left the country in protest to the invasion of Ukraine.
Potanin warned that the country would be moving backwards by more than 100 years if it goes ahead with its threat to confiscate assets of the companies.
Lots of American, European and Japanese companies including McDonald’s, Ikea, KFC, Adidas, Nike, Coca-cola etc have abandoned joint ventures, factories, stores, offices and other assets in the past two weeks in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions.
Potanin said if government goes ahead with its threat, such actions could take the nation back to the tragic days of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
Potanin – the president and biggest shareholder of Norilsk Nickel, the world’s number one producer of palladium and high-grade nickel – urged the Russian authorities to respond with pragmatism to its isolation from the global economy.
“Firstly, it would take us back 100 years, to 1917, and the consequences of such a step – global distrust of Russia on the part of investors, [which] we would experience for many decades,” Potanin said via Norilsk Nickel’s Telegram account.
He is very objective