Over half of Russians want Western brands to return, survey reveals • Novaya Gazeta Europe • RIMA

Over half of Russians want Western brands to return, survey reveals

A Moscow location of Stars Coffee, the chain that took over many Starbucks outlets in Russia after the U.S. brand suspended operations due to Western sanctions. Photo: EPA/Yuri Kochetkov

Over half of Russians (56%) would like to see Western companies return to at least one sector of the Russian market, according to a new survey released by state-affiliated business daily Vedomosti on Sunday.

The poll, conducted by the market research agency Gruppa 7/89 between February and March 2026, collected responses from over 2,000 Russians over the age of 18 through phone interviews and online questionnaires.

Researchers found that Russians were more likely to miss Western brands if they were younger than 30 (87%), resided in major cities such as Moscow (66%), or reported higher incomes. Conversely, only a third of Russians in rural areas, and 38% of those aged 60+, wanted to see Western companies return.

Forty-one percent of those surveyed said they wanted Western brands to return to the Russian automotive market, the most frequently cited sector. Respondents also missed Western cinema, music, and media companies (28%), software developers (27%), and furniture brands (25%).

One analyst cited by Vedomosti said that the Russian car market in particular had suffered from import substitution issues, affecting prices, reliability and access to spare parts. Although Western vehicles are still available in Russia, rising costs and “grey-market” import logistics have made them more difficult to obtain.

Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many Western companies have left the Russian market either voluntarily or due to EU and US sanctions. Western products have remained widely available, however, reaching Russian consumers via so-called “parallel import” channels through Central Asia and China.

А Reuters investigation in February found that nearly 130,000 Western-badged vehicles were imported to Russia in 2025, over half of which were manufactured in China. In total, over 700,000 Western, Japanese and South Korean cars have been sold in Russia via grey channels since the start of the war.

Last week, the EU imposed “secondary sanctions” on Kyrgyzstan over concerns that Russia was evading import restrictions on European high-tech products, via re-exports through the Central Asian country.