source: Stanimir Dobrev https://bsky.app/profile/delfoo.bsky.social/post/3mmcfstluyy2v
VK Holding, which has been led by Vladimir Kiriyenko, son of Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko, since 2021, did not disclose profit and loss data in its quarterly financial results presentation.
In its press release on its first-quarter results, VK reported a revenue increase of 2.1 billion rubles (to 37.6 billion), an EBITDA increase of 1.4 billion rubles (to 6.4 billion), and an increase in profitability to 17% from 14% a year earlier.
However, the company did not publish any profit or net loss data. This means that VK's net profit was likely "negative again," notes Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global.
VK Holding, which operates Russia's largest social network, the video hosting service VK Video, and the state-run messaging app Max, has suffered losses for six consecutive years. Last year, it lost 24.9 billion rubles, the year before that, 94.9 billion, 34.3 billion in 2023, 32.6 billion in 2022, 6.5 billion in 2021, and 1.9 billion in 2020.
VK's cumulative losses for 2020-2025 reached almost 200 billion rubles, equaling the annual budgets of large regions such as Stavropol Krai (195 billion rubles in 2025) or Voronezh Oblast (208 billion rubles).
Last year, the company received federal aid: 39.5 billion rubles to create a YouTube alternative and another 4 billion for Max, which is being forcibly implemented in Russia and is intended as a counterpart to China's WeChat.
Despite the lack of profit and loss data, VK's overall results can be considered "strong," according to Milchakova and PSB analysts: advertising and subscription revenue on VKontakte grew by 8%, while revenue in the VK Tech segment jumped 59%. The company is striving for "operational efficiency and cost control," PSB notes. VK's net debt fell by 20 billion rubles in one quarter.
Authorities are considering recognizing VK Video as a national video platform to "raise its status" against competitors, Kommersant sources previously reported. This would guarantee the platform access during internet restrictions, mandatory pre-installation on smartphones, and integration with the Gosuslugi (Government Services) portal.
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/b184t
Residents of Ryazan have begun complaining about the lack of AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline at gas stations. They are writing about this on the VKontakte page of Ryazan Region Governor Pavel Malkov, as reported by Govorit NeMoskva. "Does anyone know where we can fill up with 95 gasoline today? We went to SpetsNeft on Kudryavtsev Street—they don't have any other grade than 100. The gas station attendant said there's a moratorium starting today. "Full tank" on Sportivnaya Street—they just don't have 95. Where can I go, do you have any information?" a Ryazan resident wrote on social media.
One local resident confirmed to journalists that the city is experiencing gasoline shortages. "Before work, I drove to three gas stations in the Oktyabrsky District and couldn't find any 95." "At the same time, the gas station attendant at the "Full Tank" station said that discounts on my discount card were no longer valid. A driver picked me up and said that even 92-octane gasoline was out of stock at many stations," the man said. Authorities have not yet officially commented on the situation. The gasoline shortage at gas stations was preceded by an attack by Ukrainian drones on Rosneft's Ryazan Oil Refinery. According to Reuters sources, the refinery has been shut down since May 15 due to infrastructure damage and will remain closed "tentatively until the end of June."
As a result of the Ukrainian attacks over the past two weeks, all major refineries in central Russia have significantly reduced their crude processing or completely shut down, Reuters notes. In addition to the Ryazan Refinery, refineries in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, and Kirishi have also been attacked. The Moscow Oil Refinery and Kirishinefteorgsintez (Kinef) have completely shut down, while Yaroslavnefteorgsintez (YANOS) is operating at a quarter of its nominal capacity. It has not yet been determined whether Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez (NORSI) has managed to remain operational.
The combined capacity of the fully or partially shut down refineries exceeds 83 million tons per year (238,000 tons per day) – about a quarter of Russia's total. Together, they produced over 30% of all gasoline in Russia and about 25% of diesel fuel, according to the agency's calculations. Several other Russian refineries, which could have compensated for the lost petroleum product production at the damaged plants in central Russia, have themselves been attacked and are also shut down or operating at reduced capacity.
In particular, the Permnefteorgsintez Oil Refinery (13 million tons per year) and the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant (3 million tons of gas condensate) are currently idle, while the Novokuibyshevsk Oil Refinery (8 million tons per year) is operating at approximately a quarter of its capacity.
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/bAWcu
A Kazakh court has authorized Naftogaz Ukrainy to recover assets in the country from Russia's Gazprom following a $1.4 billion lawsuit. "This is the first public foreign court decision that allows for the enforcement of this arbitration award in a separate jurisdiction," said Naftogaz Chairman of the Management Board Serhiy Koretsky. He emphasized that the Ukrainian company will continue its systematic efforts to recover this amount from the Russian gas monopoly in other jurisdictions.
The dispute between Naftogaz and Gazprom arose over a 2019 contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine. Following the outbreak of war in 2022, transit through the Sokhranivka gas distribution station in the Luhansk region ceased, but supplies continued through the Sudzha point. Naftogaz stated that as a result, the Russian monopoly had stopped paying in full for contractual services. In September 2022, the Ukrainian company initiated arbitration proceedings in Switzerland. In June 2025, the arbitration court ordered Gazprom to pay Naftogaz $1.4 billion in unpaid gas transportation fees, as well as cover legal costs. The Russian side attempted to challenge this decision, but the Swiss Federal Court ultimately upheld it in March 2026.
According to Reuters, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the total amount of claims from Gazprom's former partners against the Russian company amounts to at least €19.5 billion. In addition to Naftogaz, lawsuits for breach of contractual obligations against Gazprom have been filed by Finland's Gasum, France's Engie, Italy's Eni, Slovakia's ZSE Energia, and Austria's OMV. The German RWE and Unipro, the Czech Net4gas and Innogy Energie, the Dutch Gasunie Transport Services and BBL Company V.O.F, the Swiss DXT Commodities and the Greek DEPA also filed suit.
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/mVJwu
The Federal Tax Service (FTS) has tightened its debt collection measures against businesses, freezing not only accounts and property but also patents, trademarks, software, databases, and claims against counterparties. This follows from a letter from the agency reviewed by Izvestia. The measure concerns interim measures that the tax service applies after audits if it believes a business may withdraw assets, making debt collection difficult. Companies do not lose their property, but they lose the right to sell, mortgage, or re-register it without the tax service's consent, noted Evgeniya Sabitova, a member of the Union of Legal Bloggers.
While interim measures were previously a targeted measure, they are now applied in approximately 85% of disputed cases following audits, according to tax consultant Alla Milyutina. The new measures are particularly significant for IT companies, marketplaces, online schools, and brand owners, noted Alexander Khaminsky, head of the Law and Order Center for Moscow and the Moscow Region. He explained that for such businesses, the primary value is concentrated in intellectual property, not buildings or equipment.
The Federal Tax Service stated that decisions to freeze intangible assets are based on data from the Integrated Debt Management and Administration System (IDMS), which analyzes taxpayers' risk profiles and identifies signs of violations. The tax service emphasized its focus on debt collection before companies go bankrupt. Thanks to the introduction of a single tax account and the automation of procedures, the number of debtors has been halved, and budget revenues from collection measures in 2025 will reach 1.4 trillion rubles, the tax service added.
In 2026, to cover the budget deficit, which reached 5.88 trillion rubles, or 2.5% of GDP, by the end of April, the Russian authorities increased the tax burden on businesses. Specifically, effective January 1, the government raised VAT from 20% to 22% and eliminated exemptions on insurance premiums. Furthermore, companies on the simplified tax system (STS) and patent tax system (PSN) with annual revenues exceeding 20 million rubles became VAT payers. Previously, the tax exemption applied to businesses with revenues of up to 60 million rubles.
As a result, in the first quarter, total tax revenues to the consolidated budget from businesses decreased by 22.2% year-on-year. Moreover, since the beginning of the year, 53% of organizations have experienced cash flow gaps and have been forced to seek funds for current expenses, including bank loans, according to a survey by Action Finance. For 27% of companies, this was a new problem. Alexander Kalinin, President of Opora Rossii, noted that this situation arose due to the increased tax burden, which was compounded by falling demand and rising non-payments from counterparties.
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/IyE9N
Russia's gold reserves declined for the fourth consecutive month in April 2026, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation reported on Wednesday.
As of May 1, Russia's gold reserves held 73.9 million ounces of gold bars. This volume has decreased by 200,000 ounces over the month and by 900,000 ounces since the beginning of the year. As a result, the total amount of gold on the Central Bank's balance sheet has fallen to its lowest since March 2022.
In terms of tonnes, the Central Bank's gold reserves lost 27.9 tonnes from January to April. This represents a record decline since 2002, according to data from the World Gold Council: in May 2002, the Central Bank's gold reserves fell by 41.5 tonnes.
Over the next two decades, the Central Bank primarily purchased gold, often by the hundreds of tons per year, and never reduced its gold reserves by more than 100,000 ounces (3.1 tons) in a month—primarily for coin minting. The only exception was July 2005, when 7.7 tons of gold left the Central Bank's balance sheet. However, the 2026 sale exceeded this record by 3.5 times.
The Central Bank is selling gold as part of a "mirroring" of transactions with the assets of the National Welfare Fund (which form part of the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves). The regulator has two key reasons for such operations, notes Freedom Finance Global analyst Natalia Milchakova: "First and foremost, it is to cover the budget deficit, which reached 4.6 trillion rubles by the end of March. Without partial compensation from the Central Bank, given the modest oil and gas revenues at the beginning of the year, the figure could have exceeded 5 trillion rubles."
"Furthermore, the gold sales could have been aimed at building up foreign currency reserves—a shortage arose due to weak export revenues at the beginning of the year. The precious metal was exchanged for yuan," Milchakova points out.
Since 2022, Russian authorities have been actively selling currency and gold from the National Welfare Fund to replenish the budget, which has set military spending at its highest level since Soviet times. However, until recently, gold transactions were virtual: the government sold the precious metal not on the market, but to the Central Bank, effectively shifting gold reserves "from pocket to pocket." As a result, the gold bars remained part of the country's gold reserves, which exceed 2,000 tons and are the fifth largest in the world.
Since the beginning of 2026, the situation has changed: the Central Bank has begun conducting real transactions selling physical gold, as it already does with Chinese yuan from the National Welfare Fund.
Apparently, this is due to the Central Bank's reluctance to burn through all its remaining yuan reserves, according to economists Alexandra Prokopenko and Alexander Kolyandr. Yuan is the last currency available to the Central Bank for market operations and to influence the ruble exchange rate, and how much remains in its international reserves is unknown: the Central Bank classified its reserve structure statistics after being hit by sanctions, and $300 billion of its assets in the West were frozen.
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/Rqa8o
Gazprom shares fell sharply on the Moscow Exchange on Wednesday following President Vladimir Putin's visit to China, which again failed to reach an agreement on the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline.
At 6:32 PM Moscow time, Gazprom shares fell 3.5% to 119.06 rubles per share, becoming the worst-performing blue-chip stock on the Russian market. The gas holding company lost approximately 100 billion rubles in market capitalization in one day, or more than 120 billion rubles, or $1.75 billion, compared to levels at the start of Putin's trip to Beijing.
"Investors were expecting concrete details on Power of Siberia 2, but were once again met with uncertainty," SberInvestments analysts wrote. Along with Gazprom, TMK shares also fell 6%. "The company was ready to supply large-diameter pipes for Power of Siberia 2, and investors considered it a potential beneficiary of the project. But there's been no decision on the gas pipeline, meaning there's no major order," Sberbank notes.
The entire market came under pressure, notes Freedom Finance Global analyst Vladimir Chernov. The Moscow Exchange Index, which includes four dozen of Russia's largest companies, ended the day down 1%, at 2637.3 points. Rosneft shares fell 2%, Gazprom Neft 1.5%, and Novatek 1.3%.
The market is under pressure from the "lack of concrete results from negotiations between Russia and China," notes Chernov.
Although Putin brought five deputy prime ministers and ministers with him, spoke of the "unlimited" prospects for cooperation with China, and signed a "declaration on building a multipolar world" with Xi Jinping, the president failed to bring home any major new contracts from Beijing. Of the 40 documents signed following the visit, not a single one concerns oil and gas cooperation. There's not a single mention of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which the Kremlin has been negotiating for over a decade.
There are still some unresolved "nuances" regarding Gazprom's new gas pipeline project, stated presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov. He added that there is no agreement on the start date for construction of the pipeline, which Gazprom desperately needs after losing the European market.
The price of gas remains a stumbling block for the new gas pipeline, which Gazprom desperately needs after losing the European market, a source familiar with the situation previously told the Financial Times. According to this source, China is demanding a price reduction to a level close to the domestic Russian market. This is about $50 per thousand cubic meters, which is 5 times lower than what Beijing pays now ($258 per thousand cubic meters), and 8.5 times lower than Gazprom’s prices for other clients abroad ($420).
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/xD4t1
All major refineries in central Russia have been forced to completely halt or significantly reduce crude processing and petroleum product production as a result of drone attacks over the past two weeks, Reuters calculated based on official data and source information.
The number of drone attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure has increased in 2026, and the number of refineries targeted has doubled since the beginning of the year. In the second half of May, refineries in central Russia, which supply the domestic market with fuel and account for a significant share of petroleum product exports, nearly ground to a halt.
Among the major refineries in the central part of the country that have been attacked are those in Kirishi, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, and Yaroslavl.
Thus, the Ryazan Oil Refinery has been completely shut down since May 15, and the Moscow Oil Refinery since May 17. According to fuel market sources, the Yaroslavnefteorgsintez Oil Refinery (YANOS) has been operating at about a quarter of its nominal capacity since last week.
One of the country's largest oil refineries, Kirishinefteorgsintez (Kinef, with a capacity of 20 million tons of oil per year), has been completely shut down since May 5. Another large refinery, Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez (NORSI, with a capacity of 17 million tons per year), was attacked on May 20. It has not yet been determined whether NORSI has managed to partially maintain its operations.
The total capacity of the fully or partially shut-down refineries exceeds 83 million tons per year (238,000 tons per day) – about a quarter of Russia's total. Together, they produced over 30% of all gasoline in Russia and about 25% of diesel fuel, according to Reuters calculations.
For example, the Ryazan Oil Refinery supplies a significant portion of its fuel to the Moscow and Moscow region markets. Sales of gasoline and diesel fuel from the Ryazan Oil Refinery on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX) have been suspended since last Friday, according to the exchange.
YANOS also almost completely suspended gasoline sales on the SPIMEX on May 8, while diesel fuel sales have decreased by 2.5 times.
Several other Russian refineries, which could have compensated for the lost petroleum product production at damaged plants in the central part of the country, have themselves been attacked and are also shut down or operating at below full capacity, Reuters notes.
In particular, the Permnefteorgsintez Refinery (13 million tons per year) and the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant (3 million tons of gas condensate) are currently idle. The Novokuibyshevsk Refinery (8 million tons per year) is operating at approximately a quarter of its capacity.
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/DLyKy
Russia's largest truck manufacturer, Kamaz, is launching a wave of mass layoffs due to falling demand and losses that exceeded 40 billion rubles last year.
According to Mash, 500 employees lost their jobs in April, and another 1,500 in May. Several employees at Kamaz's logistics center have had their salaries cut by a third, and a four-day work week will be introduced for them starting in June.
Some workers are being forced to take unpaid leave, Mash reports. Night shifts have also been reduced by two hours to reduce wage costs.
Kamaz posted a net loss of 43 billion rubles last year—its first since 2019. According to Avtosat, KAMAZ truck sales fell by 16% to 14,500 units, while the overall truck market shrank by half.
Last year, due to falling demand, KAMAZ operated a four-day workweek from August to November. In April, the company announced it might switch back to a four-day workweek due to a 40% drop in heavy truck sales at the beginning of the year.
The crisis in the truck market, which shrank by a third last year, is likely to continue this year, KAMAZ CEO Sergey Kogogin complained in March.
According to him, KAMAZ does not expect to make a profit this year and plans to cut its investment program. "We'd like to at least break even," Kogogin lamented.
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/CApWe
A huge wholesale market for expired food products is gaining momentum in Russia, despite the law prohibiting the sale of expired goods for any purpose.
Izvestia has discovered that advertisements for the sale of "rotten" goods, including cheese, meat, and canned goods, sometimes in quantities of tens of thousands of units, are published on specialized online channels and find buyers who can then sell the expired goods to their customers.
Expired frozen chicken, for example, is being offered for sale at 75 rubles per kilogram—a third of the normal price. Twenty tons of cheese (unnamed and Brie), 65 tons of expired chicken and beef sausages, 12,000 cans of stewed meat, 7,000 servings of "plov with chicken" with expired dates, and 68,000 cans of expired Coca-Cola imported from Jordan are on sale at discounted prices.
Izvestia's sources in the food retail market confirm that selling expired goods is becoming the norm. "When a store or small producer accumulates tons of expired meat, poultry, or fish, they don't take them to the landfill—it's expensive and attracts attention," explains one of the publication's sources. According to him, the expired goods are sent to the culinary department or transferred to "their" semi-finished product manufacturer, which then masks the problems with seasonings and flavor enhancers.
The director of a dairy warehouse in the Moscow region claims that small businesses "love to buy expired goods." "Expired mayonnaise was sold to shawarma shops, and expired cottage cheese was taken to bakeries," says a warehouse worker. Ultimately, the seller achieves two goals simultaneously: getting rid of dangerous goods and receiving a profit, rather than a fine.
The growing demand for expired food is a symptom of the severe decline in incomes and the impoverishment of the Russian population, notes economist Igor Lipsits.
Survival is becoming "more and more difficult," and people are "willing to do anything," he reasons. "The very fact that such trade is developing is a beautiful refutation of the president's fine words about real wages rising in Russia. In reality, Russia is getting richer, and their lives are getting better and better." "They're running out of grief and buying groceries online that are almost expired, with the risk of food poisoning, but at least they're so cheap that you can at least buy something," Lipsits notes.
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/k9TON
In the first quarter of 2026, the debt collection market in Russia reached a three-year high. According to the National Association of Professional Collection Agencies, 14.4 million debts totaling 355.7 billion rubles were transferred to collectors. This represents a 10% increase in the number of debts and a 6.7% increase in the volume of debt compared to the previous year.
For the first time in the historical record, Russians' debt to microfinance organizations exceeded their debt to banks. In monetary terms, microfinance organizations transferred 163.7 billion rubles of debt to collectors, while banks transferred 156.5 billion rubles.
The total number of debtors in the country is growing. By the end of 2025, the agency debt collection market amounted to 1.5 trillion rubles. This represents a 39% year-over-year increase in monetary terms and a 59% increase in volume. According to the Central Bank of Russia, 49.7 million Russians had loans and credits as of July 1, 2025. Since the beginning of 2022, the number of such borrowers has grown by 7 million. As a result, two out of three working-age Russians owe money to banks and microfinance organizations. In the summer of 2022, 3.8 million people owed money to microfinance organizations alone, and by July 2025, this figure had risen to 6.3 million. The number of those with debts to both banks and microfinance organizations has grown even more significantly: from 3.5 million to 7.5 million.
The number of collection agencies has also nearly doubled in five years. According to SPARK, 446 such companies operated in Russia in 2020, and by 2025, their number had increased to 750.
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/T2HwL
Vladimir Putin's fifth visit to China since the start of the war and the 25th during his presidency failed to yield long-awaited agreements for Russia on the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline.
The project, which has been under discussion for over 10 years and envisions increasing gas supplies to China to 100 billion cubic meters per year, still has some unresolved issues, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said following Putin's talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"Some nuances remain to be ironed out," Peskov said, adding that "the main parameters of understanding" and the route of the future pipeline had been agreed upon, but there was still no clear agreement on the project's timeline.
"There's nothing clear yet. This is commercial information, after all. But it's quite a significant achievement," Interfax quotes Peskov as saying.
Putin brought a large delegation to Beijing, including five deputy prime ministers, eight ministers, and the heads of major state-owned companies, including Gazprom and Rosneft. During his visit, he spoke of the "limitless prospects" of Russian-Chinese cooperation and promised "uninterrupted" exports of oil, coal, and gas to China.
Following the talks, Moscow and Beijing signed 40 documents. However, not a single one mentions either the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline or cooperation in the oil and gas sector, according to a list published by the Kremlin.
The price of gas remains a stumbling block for the new gas pipeline, which Gazprom desperately needs after losing the European market, a source familiar with the situation previously told the Financial Times. According to this source, China is demanding a price reduction to a level close to the domestic Russian market. This is approximately $50 per thousand cubic meters, which is five times lower than Beijing currently pays ($258 per thousand cubic meters), and 8.5 times lower than Gazprom's prices for other customers abroad ($420).
Furthermore, China is concerned that gas demand may have peaked and therefore doubts the need to take on additional purchase obligations, an FT source said.
China currently buys 38 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia annually—half of Gazprom's exports to non-CIS countries, which are hovering near their lowest levels since the late 1980s. By the end of the decade, the Russian government expects to increase supplies to China by 47%, to 56 billion cubic meters per year. The additional gas will be supplied via the Far Eastern route (12 billion cubic meters) and through the expansion of the Power of Siberia-1 pipeline (6 billion cubic meters).
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/1OiWH
Two major oil refineries supplying Moscow and the surrounding region have suspended operations after a series of drone strikes late last week, Reuters reports, citing industry sources.
According to these sources, Rosneft's Ryazan refinery ceased refining on May 15, and Gazprom Neft's Moscow refinery on May 17.
Infrastructure was damaged at the Ryazan refinery, which processes approximately 13 million tonnes of oil per year, accounting for 5% of Russia's oil refining, sources told Reuters. One of the sources said the refinery will be out of service "tentatively until the end of June."
Since last week, the Ryazan refinery has ceased selling fuel on the exchange, and traders who use it are, according to Reuters sources, seeking volumes from oil depots in neighboring regions.
The Moscow Oil Refinery, located in Kapotnya, with a capacity of approximately 14 million tons per year, completely halted refining on May 17 following a major drone strike in the capital, which killed three people and injured 12.
According to Reuters sources, the refinery's equipment was not damaged, but the plant halted refining to mitigate the risk of negative consequences. Resuming operations will take several days, the agency's sources said.
The Ryazan and Moscow oil refineries collectively produce more than 5 million tons of motor gasoline and over 6 million tons of diesel fuel annually. They are the eighth and ninth Russian refineries to halt production since early spring. Lukoil's Permnefteorgsintez and Surgutneftegaz's Kirishinefteorgsintez also halted refining in May. In April, drone strikes disrupted the Syzran, Novokuibyshevsk, Tuapse, and Saratov refineries, as well as Lukoil's Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez.
According to Reuters estimates, 11% of Russia's primary refining capacity was down daily from January to May due to drone strikes—three times more than during the same period previously. Refining throughput at Russian refineries dropped to its lowest level since 2009: 4.69 million barrels per day.
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/U670y
More than half of Russian companies faced cash flow shortages in 2026. Fifty-three percent of organizations reported a shortage of funds for operating expenses, with 27% experiencing the problem for the first time. This follows from a survey conducted by Action Finance, published by Vedomosti. The study included 527 respondents from various industries, from trade and agribusiness to IT and heavy industry. Most companies (58%) have an average annual turnover of up to 1 billion rubles, 32% between 1 billion and 15 billion rubles, and 10% between 15 billion and 1 trillion rubles.
Companies in the oil and gas and other raw materials sectors, wholesale and retail trade, and heavy industry were most likely to experience working capital shortages. In the first four months of 2026, 43% of survey participants saw their revenue decline compared to the same period last year. For 16% of respondents, it fell by more than 20%, and for 13%, it fell between 10% and 20%. Almost a third of respondents maintained their figures at approximately the 2025 level, while 26% of companies reported revenue growth.
To cover working capital shortages, 34% of respondents applied to banks for short-term loans. Of these, 19% were approved, 10% are awaiting a response, and 5% were denied. A significant proportion of companies sought funding from alternative sources: 24% noted that the owner had to invest personal funds, 11% turned to private investors, and another 3% turned to microfinance organizations.
The widening cash gap is due to rising costs and a simultaneous decline in demand, says Alexander Kalinin, President of Opora Rossii. Companies have faced an increased tax burden and an increase in non-payments from counterparties. In particular, state-owned companies have been late with contract payments since last year. By the end of 2025, this has become the main constraint on operations for 42% of organizations, according to a survey by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP).
Businesses are also increasingly being denied revolving credit, says Elena Dybova, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI). She explains that banks have switched to a "savings model" and, due to the high risks, are unwilling to work with microbusinesses, and often even with larger companies. At the same time, revolving credit remains expensive despite the reduction in the key rate, as banks see the risk of default for some clients and increase interest rates, or in some cases simply reject applications, adds Kalinin of Opora Rossii.
source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/q2bXa