Abstract. The article presents the results of the survey of the heads of structural divisions operating in Russia – on the outcome of their activity in 2019 and expectations for 2020. Top-managers indicate the stagnation of business climate in 2019 and express the highly cautious optimism in relation to the situation in 2020. Most often they define their current business position in Russia as satisfactory. The majority of them do not plan to attract additional labor force and implement new investment projects in 2020. Respondents highlight three most acute current problems of the Russian market (bureaucracy, low economic activity, sanctions from the EU and the US), point to the importance of the Eurasian Economic Union for their companies, state the stagnation or deterioration of German-Russian relations in 2019, and indicate the most promising business sectors and regions of the country.