Supporting small and medium-sized businesses has been amongst Vladimir Putin’s declared priorities even in wartime, and framed as a spine of resilience within the face of Western sanctions.
But the Russian state has been unable to protect the sector from the conflict’s impression, and there have been a number of shocks to businesses for the reason that begin of the yr.
VAT went up from 20% to 22% in January, with further funding earmarked for defence, and tax breaks for some businesses have been scrapped.
Some 209,000 small and medium-sized corporations closed within the first quarter of 2026, in keeping with enterprise intelligence platform Kontur.Fokus. That is 9% greater than within the first three months of 2025.
Widespread web shutdowns and a crackdown on fashionable messaging apps led to additional troubles, and Moscow businesses misplaced tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in a single week in March, in keeping with some estimates.
And then got here the gas disaster, triggered by Ukrainian strikes on oil depots, refineries and provide routes.
“There are already a lot of nails, and they keep hammering them in. Is [the attack on Wildberries warehouses] another nail in the coffin? Well, yes, of course,” Prof Ruben Eniklopov of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona advised the BBC.
Small businesses in Russia have proved resilient up to now, however inflation is excessive, the finances deficit is widening, and oil and gasoline revenues are 23% decrease than within the first six months of final yr.
Russia has huge monetary reserves, gathered in peacetime, however its conflict in Ukraine is more and more swallowing assets, ravenous the civilian economic system of development.
Additional reporting by Olga Shamina.
