America says there are ‘extraordinary’ economic opportunities in Russia. Huh?

A tentative thaw in ice-cold US-Russia relations is paving the way for American companies to do what, until recently, seemed unthinkable — return to the country three years after they left in droves.

A tentative thaw in ice-cold US-Russia relations is paving the way for American companies to do what, until recently, seemed unthinkable — return to the country three years after they left in droves. Following watershed talks with Russian officials last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio extolled the “extraordinary opportunities,” economic and geopolitical, that the United States and Russia could both seize once the war in Ukraine was over. And, on Monday, US President Donald Trump said he was “trying to do some economic development deals” with Moscow. But the scale of the corporate exodus from Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022 could make that project harder, with few American companies left in the country to strike any deals. More than 1,000 global companies have either voluntarily exited or curtailed operations in Russia since then, according to a list compiled by the Yale School of Management. Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said he expects some American companies to return as soon as the second quarter, according to comments cited by Russian state media agency TASS last week. Analysts are dubious, however, arguing that the reward for re-investing in Russia would be too small for companies to justify the potential costs of doing so. “I am skeptical that many companies would risk their reputation and risk going into this very unsafe and risky business environment for this relatively small market,” said Janis Kluge, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, or the SWP.