The quiet on Stoleshnikov echoes across parts of Moscow. Many Western companies, some of which catered to Russia’s upper crust, have pulled out of the country, in the face of mounting international ire and a raft of sanctions, following the invasion of Ukraine. The mass exodus, historians say, is radical, bringing to an end three decades of economic integration in a country that began to embrace globalization decades ago, even before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Russia is “a modern economy, highly integrated in global chains,” said Volodymyr Kulikov, a historian at Central European University. “And now we are witnessing unprecedented in history speedy and massive deglobalization and isolation of a large economy.” In the post-Soviet era, Western policymakers hoped the rapid spread of Western brands, many of them icons of capitalism, would serve to sow peace through economic interdependence.
Just a few decades later, as Russian tanks roll through Ukraine, that vision appears to be crumbling. More than 380 companies have announced that they would withdraw, scale back or pause operations in Russia, according to a database from the Yale School of Management. The moves are difficult for researchers to track, and the scope of changes varies across companies. But the effects are no doubt drastic.
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Hundreds of companies have
stopped or suspended
operations in Russia but some
have maintained business
SUSPENDED OR REDUCED OPERATIONS
Completely halted
operations or exited Russia
Airbnb
Stopped
all bookings
Etsy
Deactivated
all listings
from Russian
sellers
Spotify
Closed offices
and imposed
restrictions
Temporarily curtailed operations
but kept options to reopen
Apple
Suspended
all sales
Levi’s
Suspended
all sales
McDonald’s
Suspended
direct
operations
Reduced some business
operations but continued others
Michelin
Halted
production
at some
plants
J.P. Morgan
Wound down
business
but bought
Russian debt
MAINTAINED CURRENT OPERATIONS
Postponed future investments
but continued substantial business
Dunkin’ Donuts
Suspended new
development
Marriott
Closed
corporate
offices
Siemens
Froze new
business
Defied demands for exit and
did not curtail any business
As of March 24. Categories are based on rough
assessments drawn from public statements
by companies.
Source: Yale School of Management
Hundreds of companies have stopped
or suspended operations in Russia
but some have maintained business
SUSPENDED OR REDUCED OPERATIONS
Completely halted
operations or exited Russia
Airbnb
Stopped
all bookings
Etsy
Deactivated
all listings from
Russian sellers
Spotify
Closed offices
and imposed
restrictions
Temporarily curtailed operations
but kept options to reopen
Apple
Suspended
all sales
Levi’s
Suspended
all sales
McDonald’s
Suspended
direct operations
and restaurants
Reduced some business
operations but continued others
Michelin
Halted
production at
some plants
J.P. Morgan
Wound down
business
but bought
Russian debt
MAINTAINED CURRENT OPERATIONS
Postponed future investments
but continued substantial business
Dunkin’ Donuts
Suspended new
development
Marriott
Closed
corporate
offices
Siemens
Froze new
business
Defied demands for exit and
did not curtail any business
As of March 24. Categories are based on rough assessments
drawn from public statements by companies.
Source: Yale School of Management
Hundreds of companies have stopped or
suspended operations in Russia, but some
have maintained business
SUSPENDED OR REDUCED OPERATIONS
Completely halted
operations or exited Russia
Temporarily curtailed operations
but kept options to reopen
Airbnb
Stopped
all bookings
Apple
Suspended
all sales
Etsy
Deactivated
all listings from
Russian sellers
Levi’s
Suspended
all sales
McDonald’s
Suspended
direct operations
and restaurants
Spotify
Closed offices
and imposed
restrictions
Reduced some business
operations but continued others
Michelin
Halted
production at
some plants
J.P. Morgan
Wound down
business
but bought
Russian debt
MAINTAINED CURRENT OPERATIONS
Postponed future investments
but continued substantial business
Defied demands for exit and
did not curtail any business
Dunkin’ Donuts
Suspended new
development
Marriott
Closed
corporate
offices
Siemens
Froze new
business
As of March 24. Categories are based on rough assessments drawn from
public statements by companies.
Source: Yale School of Management
Hundreds of companies have stopped or suspended
operations in Russia, but some have maintained business
SUSPENDED OR REDUCED OPERATIONS
Completely halted
operations or exited Russia
Temporarily curtailed operations
but kept options to reopen
Reduced some business
operations but continued others
Airbnb
Stopped
all bookings
Apple
Suspended
all sales
Etsy
Deactivated
all listings from
Russian sellers
Michelin
Halted
production at
some plants
J.P. Morgan
Wound down
business
but bought
Russian debt
Levi’s
Suspended
all sales
McDonald’s
Suspended
direct operations
and restaurants
Spotify
Closed offices
and imposed
restrictions
MAINTAINED CURRENT OPERATIONS
Postponed future investments
but continued substantial business
Defied demands for exit and
did not curtail any business
Dunkin’ Donuts
Suspended new
development
Marriott
Closed
corporate
offices
Siemens
Froze new
business
As of March 24. Categories are based on rough assessments drawn from public statements by companies.
Source: Yale School of Management
Kulikov said that of the 50 largest foreign companies in Russia, which collectively earned some $99 billion in revenue in 2020, more than 20 companies, including Apple, Shell and Coca-Cola, had suspended shipments or some operations in the country as of this week.
Twenty-five have not made major moves to scale back or withdraw current operations.
Among the 50 largest foreign
companies in Russia,
reactions have been mixed
As of March 24. Categories are based on rough
assessments drawn from public statements
by companies.
Sources: Yale School of Management, Volodymyr Kulikov
Among the 50 largest foreign companies
in Russia, reactions have been mixed
As of March 24. Categories are based on rough assessments
drawn from public statements by companies
Sources: Yale School of Management, Volodymyr Kulikov
Among the 50 largest foreign companies in Russia,
reactions have been mixed
British
American
Tobacco
$2.7B
As of March 24. Categories are based on rough assessments drawn from
public statements by companies.
Sources: Yale School of Management, Volodymyr Kulikov
Among the 50 largest foreign companies
in Russia, reactions have been mixed
British
American
Tobacco
$2.7B
As of March 24. Categories are based on rough assessments drawn from public
statements by companies.
Sources: Yale School of Management, Volodymyr Kulikov
“Most businesses who decided to remain in Russia justified it by the necessity to proe essential services to Russia’s people,” Kulikov said. “Still, even the partial exodus of foreign companies will have disastrous social and economic consequences.”
The effects will ripple far beyond a few streets in Moscow.
“Western brands are part of the lifestyle of a particular segment of Russian society. So some Russians will see the loss of foreign trade as a big disruption, while others won’t care,” said Paul Musgrave, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “But even people who aren’t affected by the symbolism will be affected by the broader sanctions.”
New Arbat Avenue, another key shopping drag in Moscow, lined with Western storefronts, many of them less exclusive than those along Stoleshnikov, has became a common hangout during the summer for teenagers on skateboards and families with young children.
A place of gathering in Soviet times and for new generations, street life on New Arbat is subdued following the invasion. Some cafes and bars remain open, but many Western chains have left. Police patrol in the wake of antiwar protests.
The opening of McDonald’s in the city 32 years ago was an iconic late-Soviet moment. On Jan. 31, 1990, a 500-yard line snaked around the chain’s first location in Pushkin Square, not too far from New Arbat. Pizza Hut would soon follow suit. Few brands could claim to be more antithetical to the Soviet ethos — or emblematic of the Western alternative.
Russians wait in line outside a McDonald’s in Moscow in 1991.
As the same fast-food chains shut their doors this month, Russians lined up to buy their last McDonald’s burger, in scenes reminiscent of the its initial entry to a market aching for Western consumer brands.
At that time, “CEOs talked about deepening commercial ties with Russia in terms of bringing peace and capitalism” Musgrave said. “That’s just not where we are. The deep dream of the ’90s is over in Moscow.”
“The West coming to the former Soviet Union was tremendous,” said Ekaterina Pravilova, a history professor at Princeton. She lived in Leningrad — since renamed St. Petersburg — at the time McDonald’s first opened there. It was expensive for most Russians but attracted the middle class, Pravilova said. “It was viewed with excitement, with curiosity,” she said.
More than three decades later, as Western countries seek to isolate Russia, post-Cold War aspirations have come to feel like a distant memory.
The McDonald’s on New Arbat Street in Moscow is closed. (Photo for The Washington Post)A sign on New Arbat Avenue says Starbucks has temporarily suspended business in Russia. (Photo for The Washington Post)
LEFT: The McDonald’s on New Arbat Street in Moscow is closed. (Photo for The Washington Post) RIGHT: A sign on New Arbat Avenue says Starbucks has temporarily suspended business in Russia. (Photo for The Washington Post)
For Russians, “it’s a feeling of deep gloom, kind of a horrified reaction as they see all these Western and global companies abandoning” the country, said Daniel Treisman, a professor of political science at UCLA. “So much of culture is bound up in the products we use, the movies we see,” he said. “All of this leaves the Russians who’ve grown up in this new internationalized environment feeling isolated, cut off.”
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The darkened storefronts and empty sidewalks along Stoleshnikov and New Arbat are among the starkest illustrations of this new isolation.
But many of the closures are not meant to be for good. Sanctions are not “designed to be permanent” and would roll back if Russia ends the invasion in a way that is “irreversible,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NPR last week.
A peace deal might encourage Western brands to reopen, ushering in a return to the capital Muscovites have come to know.
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