‘The damage is done’: Russians face economic point of no return

Interesting piece with revealing quotes:

> One, the owner of an advertising services company with 100 employees, said that he was about to announce to his employees this afternoon that he is leaving the country for Armenia with his wife and two sons.

> “I’m going to tell them that we are going into a crisis that we have never experienced before,” he said. “It’s like flying on a plane with no engines or the engines are on fire.”

> His company, which handles contracts for international brands like Pepsi and automakers like Volkswagen, was booming as recently as January 2022, a record month for them. Now many of those brands were pulling out of the Russian market and his business was shrinking “immensely”.

> Another business owner with hundreds of employees in the food and beverage and tourism industries felt that he was completely in the dark about the future under Vladimir Putin.

> “We have no fucking clue what he will do next,” he said. “No one in the business community has a clue any more. Everyone is so depressed. I have experienced so many economic crises here, the pandemic being the latest.

> “But there was always a reason to keep on fighting for your business,” he said. “Now, I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel any more. Even if peace is achieved, the damage is done. How do we reverse it?”