Russians buy cheap foreign companies in crisis

Thee world financial turmoil could be a unique chance for Russia to become a stronger country, Presidential Adviser Arkadii Dvorkovich said last Friday to newspaper Vedomosti. He is confident that Russia’s reserves will help the country itself avoid financial crisis. The high-ranking official maintains that Russia now has the chance to make a big step ahead – to more comprehensively integrate in world economy with the help of the expansion of Russian capital and companies He also underlines that Russian authorities are ready to support the companies in their bid to acquire the foreign assets, and that the issue has been discussed in the presidential administration over the last six months. He confirms that the state can provide the companies both with financial and diplomatic aid. Meanwhile, analysts remain sceptical towards Mr. Dvorkovich’s statements. Deputy Director of the Institute of Economics, Sergey Silvestrov, says to the newspaper that the foreign investments would be wise only when domestic problems are resolved. The foreign acquisitions are also likely to encounter problems from foreign governments seeing the bids as possible threats to national security. Thus, Gary Hufbauer from the Peterson Institute of International Economy says to Vedomosti that the Russian state’s encouragement about foreign investments in the U.S. comes at the worst possible time, considering the recent conflict in Georgia and the general cool East-West relations. He is confident that the statements of Mr. Dvorkovich will only make U.S. authorities more sceptical towards Russian investments in the country.