MOSCOW, Feb 9 —President Vladimir Putin waved a sarcastic farewell today to foreign businesses which have left Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, saying their departure would benefit Russian companies.
“Today many of them , under pressure from their governments, are leaving our market. All the best to them,” he said, briefly waving his hand in a farewell gesture. Scores of Western companies - from energy producers to food and clothing chains - have left Russia in the last year, amid unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western countries after Russia deployed tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine.Western sanctions over the conflict have upended some sectors of Russia’s economy, cutting its biggest banks from the SWIFT financial network, curbing its access to technology and restricting its ability to export oil.