It’s a Business Free-for-All in a Russia Transformed by Sanctions
In Putin’s “mobilization economy,” entrepreneurs find creative ways to meet demand, like converting Krispy Kreme into Krunchy Dream, Starbucks into Stars Coffee.
Viktoriya and Julia Shelanova on a frozen lake in Moscow.
Photographer: Nanna Heitmann for Bloomberg Businessweek
For many young Russians, the barrage of sanctions that severed their country’s ties with large swaths of the global economy was a good reason to leave. For Viktoriya Shelanova, a 37-year-old social media manager in Moscow, it was an opportunity to start a business selling water sports apparel.
An exodus of foreign brands following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in shortages of goods in practically every sector. When Viktoriya’s sister Julia, an avid wakeboarder, struggled to find a neoprene vest, the two set out to find a manufacturer in China, a country that has maintained friendlier relations with the Kremlin.