Gazprom tops list of most indebted Russian companies

Forbes’ Russian service has published a ranking of the most indebted Russian companies.

According to the report, the total net financial debt of the companies included exceeds 20.5 trillion rubles. Forbes notes that all companies on the list “have been affected by the Central Bank’s high interest rates,” with some firms seeing their loan and borrowing costs double or increase even further since 2004.

Gazprom ranks first, with a net debt of 6.047 trillion rubles at the end of 2024 (5.79 trillion rubles as of mid-2025). The company spent 715.4 billion rubles on interest payments, an 83% increase compared to the previous year.

Rosneft comes in second, with a net debt of 3.6 trillion rubles at the end of 2024. The company has not published complete financial statements since 2022, so mid-2025 debt data is also unavailable.

Russian Railways ranks third, with a net debt of 2.771 trillion rubles at the end of 2024 (3.36 trillion rubles by mid-2025). The company’s loan repayments increased 2.5 times over the year, reaching 323.5 billion rubles.

Other companies on the list include Atomenergoprom, En+ Group, Norilsk Nickel, SIBUR, and the state-owned Avtodor.

Russia’s Central Bank maintained a record-high key interest rate of 21% from October 2024 to June 2025, before lowering it three times, most recently in September 2025, to 17%.

On Oct. 9, Reuters reported that many of Russia’s largest companies are moving employees to reduced work schedules, placing them on unpaid leave, or laying them off to cut personnel costs amid difficult economic conditions.