There were nearly a dozen Russia ADRs trading on the NYSE or the NASDAQ with important ones being: CTC Media, Inc (NASDAQ: CTCM) provides TV programming in Russia and former Soviet Bloc/CIS countries; Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL) is a mining and steel giant; Cypress based Qiwi PLC (NASDAQ: QIWI) provides payment services in Russia and former Soviet Bloc/CIS countries; Cyprus based Nexters Inc (NASDAQ: GDEV) is a mobile gaming company (founded by Russians but headquartered in Cyprus); Amsterdam based Yandex NV (NASDAQ: YNDX) is an Internet and search engine provider active in Russia, Turkey and former former Soviet Bloc/CIS countries; and telecommunications stocks Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (NYSE: MBT) and Amsterdam headquartered/domiciled VEON Ltd (Formerly VimpelCom Ltd) (NASDAQ: VIP) who both have operations in other former Soviet republics. In addition, there were once a number of regional Russian telecommunications stocks with ADRs, but these were largely rolled up or merged into long-distance telephony provider Rostelekom OAO (OTCMKTS: ROSYY) in 2012-2013.
Of the OTC listed Russia ADRs, foreign investors are probably most familiar with oil and gas behemoth Gazprom OAO (OTCMKTS: OGZPY), Aeroflot – Russian Airlines OJSC (OTCMKTS: AERZY) and Lukoil (OTCMKTS: LUKOY).
Aside from Russian ADRs, there are or were two Eastern Europe or Russia closed-end funds which once had and may still have exposure to Russian stocks: The Central and Eastern Europe Fund, Inc (NYSE: CEE) (formerly the Central Europe Russia and Turkey Fund Inc) and the Morgan Stanley Eastern Europe Fund, Inc (NYSE: RNE). The Templeton Russia and East European Fund, Inc (NYSE: TRF) was another closed-end fund investing in Russian stocks, but it was liquidated circa 2015.
For more list of funds that may have Russia exposure, check out our Eastern Europe ETF list, Eastern Europe ETF Region Wide list and BRIC ETF list while our Russia ETF list contains ETFs with direct exposure.
NOTE: The trading of Russian ADRs and stocks on US stock exchanges was halted at the end of February 2022 in wake of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.
Stocks delisted from the OTC (whether due to mergers, acquisitions or for other reasons) have been left in the table (as their websites still provide a good feel for the company and the local market) and may still trade on local or other important European stock exchanges (e.g. London, Amsterdam etc). They may also be holdings of country or region specific ETFs or Indices.
List of Russia ADRs Trading on Major US Stock Exchanges & the Over-the-Counter (OTC) Exchange
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Note: If there are any ADRs to add or remove from this list or there are bad links, please write a note in the comments section so it can be fixed. Likewise, adding any other comments or advice would also be appreciated.
Russian Stock Exchanges
The Moscow Exchange was established near the end of 2011 by the merger of the two largest Moscow-based exchanges, the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) and the Russian Trading System (RTS). Both exchanges had been formed in the 1990s and were the leading Russian exchanges for two decades with their MICEX Index and the RTS Index. The Moscow Exchange completed its IPO on February 15, 2013 when it raised 15 billion rubles (approximately $500 million) – the largest ever IPO held exclusively in Moscow.
In addition, the Stock Exchange Saint-Petersburg (SPBEX) is the largest stock exchange outside of Moscow with origins dating back to 1991.
Russia Stocks and Investing Resources
Here are some useful and mostly English news resources for investing in Russian ADRs or stocks or about Russia in general:
- Business New Europe
- Committee for Russian Economic Freedom
- ITAR-TASS (Russian News Agency)
- Meduza (The Real Russia, Today)
- PRAVDA
- RT
- RusBase.com (Russian Startups Going Global)
- Russia Beyond The Headlines
- Russia Insider
- Sputnik International (Russia Edition)
- The Moscow Times
- The Voice of Russia
For additional resources for investing in Russia ADRs or stocks, check out all of our Russia tagged articles/links.
