A number of Italian corporations that were forced to leave the Russian market due to Western sanctions would like to return, Vittorio Torrembini, the president of the Association of Italian Entrepreneurs in Russia (GIM Unimpresa) said on Thursday. He told Izvestia that Italy’s exports to Russia have dropped by around 35% since February 2022, when the US, EU, and their allies imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict.
“I have repeatedly said that the Russian market is very important for Italian companies, and not only for them,” Torrembini said. He added that investments in Russia “cannot be tossed to the wind.”
Torrembini noted that ten companies that mainly operated in the oil and gas sector had announced the suspension of their activities in Russia after it launched its military operation in Ukraine.
