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MOSCOW, March 6 (Reuters) - Russia's top business lobby chief on Monday called on companies from Russia and parts of the former Soviet Union to occupy niches left by departing Western firms, as Moscow seeks to forge deeper ties with so-called friendly countries. Scores of foreign firms from McDonald's to Renault have exited Russia or suspended their activities in the country since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last February.
Western governments also imposed sweeping sanctions aimed at strangling Russia's access to capital and certain goods. Moscow considers those that have not imposed sanctions as "friendly". "We are not calling for sanctions circumvention, but using the niches that have arisen in connection with the departure of Western partners from Russia," said Alexander Shokhin, the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. "Of course, not only Russian companies can occupy these niches, but companies from the member countries of the EEU (Eurasian Economic Union)."
Some companies have pounced on their foreign rivals' exit, such as drinks maker Chernogolovka, which said it was aiming for a 50% share of Russia's near $9 billion soft drinks market after Coca-Cola and PepsiCo halted production and sales last year.
Shokhin was speaking at his union's integration forum, where other speakers named countries such as Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, India and China as places where Russia has great potential to increase trade.
The EEU's other members - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - all sharply increased their exports to Russia in 2022, as European countries shunned Moscow and dramatically scaled back shipments of goods.
Russian aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska last week fretted that Russia would run out of money next year without sufficient foreign investment, urging the government to stop interfering in business and lure investors back to the country's sanctions-hit economy.
President Vladimir Putin has also implored businessmen to
invest in Russia, scolding those who "beg" for money in the
West.
(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Alexander Marrow;
Editing by Jan Harvey)
