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Kremlin dismisses spike in capital outflow from Russia as short-term market correction

"We maintain the belief that some volatility will always remain a possibility - capital effortlessly flows into the country and effortlessly flows out," the Kremlin spokesman said

MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. The recent notable capital outflow from Russia recorded by analysts is a market correction, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"We maintain the belief that some volatility will always remain a possibility - capital effortlessly flows into the country and effortlessly flows out. These are largely strategic factors. Certain processes substitute other ones depending on specific investment parameters becoming more attractive for investors. Therefore this is a fairly volatile circumstantial process," Peskov told reporters.

Peskov’s comment was a response to information by Kommersant referencing Emerging Portfolio Fund Research that foreign investors had cut back on investments into Russian assets for the fourth month in a row. The newspaper says foreign investors withdrew over $1.6 bln from Russian shares during that period, a 48- month all-time high. Analysts are linking this episode of capital flight to failed expectations regarding rapprochement between the US and Russia, heightened corporate conflict between Rosneft and Sistema companies, and a drop in oil prices.

"These proceedings that are taking place, are exclusively on a judiciary level and are not related to the investment climate in our country at all," Peskov said commenting on the impact of the corporate conflict between Rosneft and Sistema on the current capital outflow.