East better than West – Putin

Western firms are provided with a much better business environment in Russia than the country’s enterprises often get overseas, President Vladimir Putin stated on Wednesday.

He made the remark during a Q&A session at the Russia Calling! investment forum in Moscow, pointing out that Western businesses, and German ones in particular, still enjoy favorable conditions in which to operate in the country.

“Nowadays, everything from the East is better than from the West,” he told the forum. “Look at the conditions that are being created for the German economy here in Russia, and by your traditional allies and partners – now we are only talking about the business environment.” 

“But our doors are always open, we have always had very good relations with Germany for decades, we understood each other very well,” the president said.

Many Western countries, however, have shown themselves as “unreliable partners,” he added, and especially from 2022, when ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine turned to armed confrontation.

“You know that in 2022, our entrepreneurs, companies, and entire industries faced serious challenges due to the actions of some, let’s put it carefully, some countries. Or, more precisely, their ruling elites,” Putin noted.

“These countries have proven themselves to be unreliable partners,” he explained, and as a result “many supply chains, business ties that had been developed over decades, were jeopardized or even outright destroyed.”