Vladimir Potanin: Russia’s richest businessman has a warning for Putin

Vladimir Potanin, president of metals large Norilsk Nickel (NILSY) and its greatest shareholder, stated that Russia risked returning to the tumultuous days of the 1917 revolution if it slammed the door on Western corporations and buyers. He urged the Russian authorities to proceed with excessive warning relating to the seizure of belongings.

Norilsk Nickel is the world’s largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel, in addition to a serious producer of platinum and copper. The corporate and its main merchandise have escaped punishing sanctions imposed by Western international locations which have slammed the Russian financial system.

Dozens of American, European and Japanese corporations have deserted joint ventures, factories, shops, workplaces and different belongings up to now two weeks in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions. They have been joined by Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan on Thursday, the primary main Western banks to announce they’ll give up Russia utterly for the reason that disaster erupted in February.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated Thursday that he backed a plan to introduce “exterior administration” of overseas corporations leaving Russia.

“We have to act decisively with these [companies] who’re going to shut their manufacturing,” Putin stated in keeping with a video posted by the Kremlin and aired on state media. “It’s crucial, then … to introduce exterior administration after which switch these enterprises to those that wish to work,” he added.

Russia’s shopper rights group has drawn up a listing of corporations which have determined to go away and may very well be nationalized, in keeping with a report in Russian newspaper Izvestiya later cited by state information company TASS.

The doc that was reportedly despatched to the Russian authorities and the Prosecutor Basic’s Workplace, consists of 59 corporations, together with Volkswagen, Apple, IKEA, Microsoft, IBM, Shell, McDonald’s, Porsche, Toyota, H&M, and may be up to date with extra manufacturers, Izvestiya stated.

Potanin stated it wasn’t notably expedient to speak about nationalizing Western belongings, however the Kremlin’s proposal may permit “homeowners to maintain property, and firms to keep away from collapse, proceed to provide merchandise and pay cash to staff.”

“I perceive that in mild of the financial restrictions directed towards Russia, there could also be an comprehensible want to behave symmetrically,” he wrote. “However on the instance of Western international locations, we see that the economies of those international locations endure from the imposition of sanctions towards Russia. We should be wiser and keep away from a situation the place retaliatory sanctions hit ourselves.”

He additionally referred to as for Russia to ease restrictions on overseas forex in order that curiosity may very well be paid on overseas bonds and loans. In any other case, there was a threat the nation may default on its total exterior debt, which he estimated at about $480 billion.