Elise Denjean, edited by Gauthier Delomez 11:08 a.m., March 02, 2022
If the international community imposes sanctions on Russia, these will also affect foreign companies established there.
The French Ministry of the Economy has asked, in particular the tricolor giants TotalEnergies and Engie, which are well established in the country, to limit their economic activities.
Bruno Le Maire's words did not go unnoticed by Russia.
The Minister of Economy spoke of an "economic war" against Moscow, angering former Russian President Dimitri Medvedev, before returning to his statement.
However, Bercy remains firm on its desire to see French companies sever their ties with "any political or economic figure close to Russian power" because of the military invasion of Ukraine.
He has also launched an appeal to the two energy giants, TotalEnergies and Engie, which currently offer a minimum service.
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TotalEnergies will not stop its activities in Russia
Although TotalEnergies has undertaken to no longer finance new projects in Russia, there is no question for the time being of stopping its current activities.
For good reason: the group produces 17% of its oil and gas locally.
This is why it is much more involved than its competitors BP or Shell, who have announced they are withdrawing from the country.
The impact of the exclusion of Russian banks from the Swift network
The Engie group recalls that the company has no industrial activity on site.
It will only maintain supply contracts.
And concerning the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, Engie transformed its participation into a loan of up to 987 million euros.
Finally, the other companies present in Russia say they are watching the development of the situation very closely.
What is certain is that they will also be victims of the exclusion of certain Russian banks from the Swift network.
They therefore risk being hit hard by the recession, all without being able to repatriate their capital to France.