Thousands of foreign companies are queuing up to leave Russia, waiting for approval from the Russian government.

Nearly 2,000 foreign companies have applied to quit the Russian market and are awaiting approval from the Russian government, the Financial Times reported, citing sources. The companies need permission from the government’s Foreign Investment Oversight committee to sell assets.

Of the nearly 1,400 foreign companies with legal status in Russia and annual revenues of at least $5m, only 206 have sold all their assets. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that the government’s foreign investment oversight committee plans to meet only once every three months and approve no more than seven applications at a time.

It follows news that companies from unfriendly countries will have to pay a budget to Russia when they leave the market. If a company’s assets are sold at a discount of more than 90 percent to the market value, the payment should not be less than 10 percent of the market value of the corresponding assets, according to excerpts from the minutes of the panel meeting of Russia’s Foreign Investment Supervision Commission.

In October 2022, Putin signed a presidential decree requiring companies from unfriendly countries to obtain permission from the Russian government’s Foreign Investment Oversight Committee when trading shares of more than 1 percent in Russian financial institutions.