The Dutch ING Group is finally leaving Russia. How many other foreign companies are hesitant to do so

29 January 12:07

The Dutch ING Group has reached an agreement to sell its business in Russia to the Russian company Global Development JSC. This was reported by the press service of ING, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.

Reportedly, the deal will be closed in the third quarter of 2025 and will effectively end ING’s operations in the Russian market.

ING’s press service said that since February 2022, ING has not taken on new business with Russian companies, has reduced operations and taken steps to separate the Russian part of the business from ING’s networks and systems.

Commenting on ING’s withdrawal from Russia, Bloomberg states that the Dutch bank will suffer losses of 700 million euros. According to KBC Securities analyst Thomas Couvreur, ING has successfully reduced its Russian business over the past 3 years.

How many foreign companies have already left Russia

As of January 1, 2025, 467 companies have completed their withdrawal from Russia since the full-scale invasion in February 2022. According to KSE Institute estimates, in 2021, they generated $105 billion in revenue (32.8% of all foreign companies’ revenue) and paid taxes of about $6 billion (23.3% of all taxes paid by foreign companies before the invasion). This is stated in the KSE Institute’s monitoring as part of the Self-Sanctions/LeaveRussia project, which examines the impact of the withdrawal of foreign business on the Russian economy.

In 2024, more than 160 international companies finally ceased their operations in Russia through liquidation or sale of their businesses. Among them are well-known brands: FedEx, Carlsberg, Unilever, Moncler, Hugo Boss, Danone, Siemens, ExxonMobil, IKEA, as well as Inditex, the owner of popular brands such as Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, and others.

Despite this, more than 2,220 companies continue to operate in Russia. Among them: Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco International, PepsiCo, Raiffeisen Bank, Mars, Nestlé, Metro, Mondelez, Coca-Cola, and other large corporations. Their activities continue to support the economy of the aggressor state.

More than 1,300 companies have announced their intention to leave, but have not yet completed the process. Some have partially sold their businesses, others have started bankruptcy proceedings or faced nationalization of assets, as recently happened to the beer giant Anheuser-Busch.

Overall, only 11.5% of companies have completed a full exit from Russia. About 33.5% have suspended or announced the termination of their operations, while 55% still remain on the Russian market.

A detailed list of companies, their statuses and changes is available on the Leave Russia platform.

Василевич Сергій
Editor