The End of Global Ambitions: russian Businesses Have Lost Assets Abroad en Masse

lukoil”’s sale of LUKOIL International GmbH, which owns all of its foreign assets, has been the most telling sign of the deterioration of russia’s international business since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. The company’s foreign portfolio, estimated at $22 billion, is being transferred to the American investment fund Carlyle Group, effectively ending the history of russian private business expansion abroad.

This collapse is not an isolated case. In 2022, “gazprom” lost Gazprom Germania (valued at $8.4 billion), which Germany first transferred to external management and then nationalized. Poland stripped the company of control over Europol Gaz, the operator of the Polish section of the “Yamal-Europe” gas pipeline, which in 2023 came under the full control of the state-owned Orlen.

In 2022, “rosneft” lost control of Rosneft Deutschland and RN Refining & Marketing, with a total value of about $7 billion, along with stakes in three German refineries. “novatek” was forced to part with its Polish assets, Novatek Green Energy, which were bought by Barter in 2025.

The banking sector suffered equally devastating losses. “sberbank” sold or liquidated all its European assets, from Switzerland to Austria, lost its bank in Ukraine, and withdrew from Kazakhstan. After US sanctions, VTB lost control of its divisions in the UK, Germany, and Cyprus. alfa bank lost Amsterdam Trade Bank in the Netherlands and Ukraine’s Sense Bank, which was nationalized in 2023.

State-owned corporations and industrial groups were also forced to curtail their presence: “russian railways” sold 75% of GEFCO, “rosatom” lost the Finnish Hanhikivi-1 project, and so on.

Taken together, these losses mark a systemic failure of russian businesses’ international ambitions.