Russian business enters 2026 in state of managed collapse – intelligence

The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine stated this on its website, according to Ukrinform.

According to the intelligence service, "Three-quarters of Russia's largest companies reported a decline in revenue and profit or direct losses at the end of 2025. Dividends have become a luxury that most can no longer afford."

More than half of Russian companies, 53%, reported cash-flow gaps in 2026. For 27% of them, this is a new reality. The crisis hit the oil and gas and raw materials sectors, wholesale and retail trade, and heavy industry hardest.

Gazprom, which until recently was a symbol of the Kremlin's financial power, will leave shareholders without payouts for the second time in a row. The company last paid dividends for the first half of 2022.

Following it, Rusal and Alrosa, two key companies in the aluminum and diamond sectors, also отказали themselves from payouts. Rusal has not paid dividends to shareholders since the first half of 2022 and does not plan to do so for the first quarter of 2026 either.

Metallurgy is also struggling to stay afloat. NLMK and MMK, the largest steel producers in Russia, recommended that shareholders forget about payouts for 2025. NLMK last paid dividends based on the results of 2023.

In the real estate market, developer Samolet posted a net loss of RUB 2.3 billion, compared with a profit of RUB 8.2 billion a year earlier. Children's retailer Korablik, one of the largest in its segment, is on the verge of bankruptcy, unable to withstand its debt burden and declining demand.

Rostelecom cut 20,000 employees. The confectionery holding company United Confectioners reduced its staff by a quarter amid falling sales. Bork-Retail's profit collapsed by 90% compared with 2024.

Volga Avtodor posted one of the worst results: revenue fell by 96%, while debts to creditors reached RUB 3 billion, five times the company's entire annual income.

Shareholders will also receive no dividends from Magnit, Uralkali, Seligdar, Fix Price, Eurotrans, Unipro, Europlan, and the car-sharing service Whoosh, which posted a net loss of more than RUB 2.9 billion.

The VK holding company, headed by Vladimir Kirienko, the son of Russian presidential administration deputy chief Sergei Kirienko, did not publish any profit or loss data in its quarterly financial results presentation at all. That most likely means VK's net profit was negative again.

As Ukrinform previously reported, Russia's spending on the war in Ukraine this year will exceed the amount laid out in the budget by at least RUB 2 trillion ($28 billion).