Russian businesses invested $436 million in Ukraine during the first half of 2018, Ukraine’s State Statistics Service showed. That accounts for 34.6 percent of the total $1.3 billion of foreign direct investments.
Cyprus was the second-largest investor at $219 million, followed by the Netherlands ($208 million), Austria ($59 million), Poland ($54 million), France ($47 million) and Great Britain ($43.4 million).
The biggest investments were made in banking and insurance ($750 million or 60 percent), wholesale and retail trade (10 percent), manufacturing (8.2 percent) and IT (8 percent).
Data showed net inflow of funds into Ukraine in the first half of the year decreased by 31 percent compared to the same period a year earlier, at $922 million.
“Ukraine is actually on the verge of bankruptcy, so it takes money without being embarrassed, wherever it is possible,” journalist and political analyst Yuri Svetov told Sputnik.
He said that judging by the statements of Ukrainian politicians, Kiev takes this money “as some kind of Moscow’s ‘duty’ to Ukraine, which Russia is obliged to pay off following ‘centuries of oppression’.”
According to the expert, Russian businesses clearly have interests in Ukraine while for a long time the two countries had developed economic relations. Svetov, however, noted that Russian investments could be halted soon, “because we are now constantly hearing statements from the Ukrainian leadership about breaking of the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation, and the possible termination of transport communications and so on.”
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