OREANDA-NEWS IKEA's withdrawal from the Russian market took almost two years, so it is unlikely that the company will be among the first to return to the country, said Karen Shakhnazarov, partner at O2 Consulting law firm. The expert shared his opinion in a conversation with Lenta.ru".

IKEA officially announced the suspension of its operations in Russia in March 2022. During 2022, the company was reducing its staff and selling off inventory. IKEA then sold its four Russian factories, which had previously provided the company with such a high percentage of production localization, which it was very proud of," Shakhnazarov said.

In 2023, according to the lawyer, Gazprombank bought out IKEA's MEGA shopping mall network, and just a few months ago, at the end of 2024, the company sold its last Russian asset, a warehouse in the Moscow region.

As you can see, it took the company almost two years to leave the Russian market and was quite difficult. I doubt very much that IKEA will be among the first companies returning to Russia after all this.

Earlier, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov said that the Russian Ministry of Finance had begun work on a list of requirements for foreign companies to return to the Russian market.