Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Russia plummeted to a mere $3.3 billion in 2024, marking its lowest point since 2001, according to new data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Released during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the statistics reveal a staggering 62.8% drop in investment from 2023 to 2024 and a 50% reduction compared to the pre-war year of 2021, when Russia secured $38.8 billion in FDI.

Even if the conflict were to resolve immediately, it is unlikely that many prominent businesses would view Russia as a viable investment option due to the lingering political uncertainties, stated Sergei Aleksashenko, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia who now resides abroad, in an interview with Reuters.

According to the Central Bank, foreign investment in Russia’s non-financial sectors has decreased by 57% over the last three years. The total FDI dropped from $497.7 billion at the beginning of 2022 to $216 billion by January 2025, the lowest figure recorded since 2009.

Analysts note that the increasing trend of state confiscation of private assets, including the recent nationalization of Domodedovo Airport in Moscow, serves as a major deterrent for foreign investors. Since the outbreak of the conflict, more than a dozen businesses owned by foreign entities have been expropriated.

Last month, President Vladimir Putin remarked that Western technology companies still operating in Russia but acting against the nation’s interests should be “strangled.”

“Everyone can clearly see that the situation regarding property rights is deteriorating daily,” Aleksashenko told Reuters.

The UNCTAD report also emphasizes the significant contraction in 2022, when foreign companies withdrew a net total of $15.2 billion, reflecting the immediate capital repatriation efforts that followed the invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of extensive international sanctions.