Negotiations have therefore already taken place during the Biden administration, although at that time, efforts were made to save over 4 billion USD in assets from there. Everything was eventually seized by the Kremlin, and the company wrote them down.
Now a return is being planned with new investments.
Greed and immorality aside, aren’t alarm bells ringing at all here if billions were lost three years ago and now a return is being made to the same country with the same administration still in power? As a shareholder myself, I would be quite concerned about such a move. The assurances are like “trust me bro,” when it has been seen that no sanctions or similar measures affect the Kremlin’s decision-making in any way.
Imagine if Fortum were to start building new power plants in Russia now, or Nokian Tyres were to erect a new factory, say, in Moscow, when the St. Petersburg factory was practically expropriated for a pittance.