Russian billionaires continue to withdraw their assets from Europe under pressure from sanctions

Last month, the companies of Russian tycoons Igor Shilov and Mark Kurtzev, United Medical Group CY Plc and MD Medical Group Investments Plc, decided to move their assets from Cyprus to Russia. The assets of billionaire Andrey Guriev and steel magnate Viktor Rashnikov have moved from Switzerland and Cyprus to Russia. This amounts to at least $50 billion withdrawn from accounts abroad to Russia.

With the start of the full-scale invasion, Russian investors began to transfer their assets to so-called "friendly" states, such as the UAE and Kazakhstan. The Kremlin is putting pressure on asset owners: double taxation is no longer in effect, dividend payments have also been suspended, and it is virtually impossible to conduct foreign transactions. Also, on the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, a decision was made to develop a mechanism for controlling lost Russian companies that are subordinated to foreign entities.

The Russian government continues to improve the conditions for keeping funds in the country. Thus, this year 115 companies moved to Russian "offshore", out of a total of 254.

Source: Bloomberg