AliExpress halts investment in Russia

The Chinese service AliExpress is suspending all its investments in the development of the Russian market, several sources of The Bell reports. Among other things, the company will:

• suspend significant investments in projects that require them
• pause funding for the development of logistics
• suspend its marketing operations

However, the reason for these steps is not Russia’s war in Ukraine but the fall of the country’s economy — a sharp fall in its currency, a drop in the purchasing power of the population, people losing their jobs because of the shutdown of international companies. As a result, all the big players, who recently were ready to invest in future development, are now suspending their projects and leaving the Russian market.

AliExpress is not the only project from China that is withdrawing from Russia. Earlier, the company Sinopec refused to invest $500 million in a project in the Russian Federation. The reason is that they are worried about possible counter-sanctions.