Vladimir Potanin spoke out against the idea of nationalizing foreign businesses amid a mass exodus of corporate giants
Russia’s second-richest man Vladimir Potanin has spoken out against the idea of confiscating the assets of foreign corporate giants that have opted to quit the country. He said 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 – has 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.
“Secondly, the decision of many companies to suspend operations in Russia is, I would say, somewhat emotional in nature and may have been taken as a result of unprecedented pressure on them from public opinion abroad,” the billionaire added.
He claimed that foreign businesses would come back to the country, and called for this opportunity to be preserved.
“We see that the West’s own economies have suffered by imposing sanctions against Russia. So we must be wiser and avoid a scenario under which our sanctions hit us,” said Potanin, who has not been sanctioned by the West.
“We should not try to ‘slam the door’ but endeavor to preserve Russia’s economic position in those markets, which we spent so long cultivating.”
