Chinese Business Has Sharply Accelerated Its Capture Of The Russian Market

During the war against Ukraine, the number of companies with Chinese founders increased 10 times.

The number of companies with Chinese founders or co-founders in Russia has increased 10 times during the war against Ukraine. While in December 2021 there were 1,434 such companies, in February 2026 there were 14,798. Thus, the share of Chinese-owned companies increased from 3.6% to 22.3% of the total number of organizations with foreign participation in the Russian market. This follows from the data of the Rusprofile counterparty verification and analysis service, cited by "Vedomosti".

Last year was a record year in terms of the number of public companies with Chinese participation - 4,317. At the same time, from 2021 to 2026, 2,653 organizations registered to Chinese citizens ceased operations and closed down. Most of all companies with Chinese founders operate in trade (4,210 legal entities), construction of residential and non-residential buildings (397) and catering (341). T-Business noted that in order to enter the Russian market, the Chinese not only actively open their own businesses, but also become owners and managers of the Russian companies that existed before them. Thus, in 2025, three companies registered by the Chinese in Russia accounted for one acquired company.

"This is not just statistics, but a reflection of systemic changes in the structure of business ties between our countries," said the representative of "Opora Rossii" in China Ilona Gorsheneva-Dolunts. According to her, the activation of Chinese entrepreneurs in Russia was facilitated by the liberation of niches previously occupied by Western suppliers and "the explosion in online commerce."

Chinese entrepreneurs are opening representative offices in Russia, strengthening local teams and actively poaching specialists from Russian companies in sales, engineering functions and service support, says Roman Koposov, deputy director of ARB pro Roman Koposov. According to him, the model of "establishing a foothold in the country and managing the market from within, not just supplying goods" will expand to other industries beyond online trading.

Chinese companies are registering legal entities in Russia to directly control sales, logistics and settlements with local partners, said Yaroslav Kabakov, director of strategy at FG Finam. He explained that trading enterprises require less investment, are faster to scale up and allow them to quickly occupy vacated niches, while localization of production requires large investments, technology and long-term stability.

The trend of expansion of Chinese business in Russia will continue and will lead to increased dependence of the Russian economy on Chinese supplies of equipment, technology and consumer goods, Kabakov concluded.

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