MOSCOW (Reuters) – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Kazakhstan’s efforts to attract sanctions-hit businesses that have left the Russian market were “absolutely normal”.
Earlier, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said his country must work to accommodate hundreds of international businesses that have left Russia over sanctions imposed after Moscow sent its army into Ukraine.
“It’s absolutely normal when any country in the world tries to create comfortable conditions for foreign investors,” Peskov told reporters.
“Another thing that is clear is that under unprecedented pressure from the outside, many companies are forced to take such decisions,” he added, referring to the hundreds of foreign companies that have left Russia or halted operations since February.
“Unfortunately, this is the reality in which we live and work,” he said.
Russia has attacked sanctions on Moscow as part of an “economic war” being waged by the West. Dozens of international companies, including the likes of Renault, McDonald’s and BP have exited the Russian market in recent months, writing off significant losses on their investments as they rushed to suspend business in the country.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
