Abstract. The article presents the results of a survey of the heads of structural divisions of large German companies operating in Russia – on the outcome of their activity in 2017 and expectations for 2018. In general, German top managers indicate the moderate improvement of the business climate in 2017 and express cautious optimism about 2018. Significant (but not dominant) part of them define the state of their business in Russia as good. The paper also presents data on the attitude of German companies towards the main problems as well as advantages of the Russian market, towards sanctions and Eurasian Economic Union. Most promising sectors and regions for doing business are named.