Western companies are curtailing investments in Russia, repatriating funds and talking with their banks about currency hedges to protect profits from the falling rouble and worsening growth outlook.
Car makers including Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover, Audi and BMW have already scaled back business.
Other companies, such as Finnish retailer Stockmann, and Swedish-based furniture maker IKEA, want to stay but are wary of developments.
Collapsing oil prices and a punishing round of sanctions over Ukraine are pushing Russia into recession and are frustrating thousands of Western companies with business there who see little prospect the political deadlock will be broken.
The sanctions have compounded the battering that the oil-dependent economy is taking, prompting a 50% drop in the rouble this year.
The central bank has said GDP could contract by 5% next year if oil stays around $60 a barrel.
Car makers are among those to have taken the most drastic steps, with the economic downturn eating into consumer budgets for big ticket items.
"In view of the volatility of rouble exchange rate and with the aim to manage its business risk, GM Russia has decided to temporarily suspend wholesaling of vehicles to its dealers in Russia as of December 16," GM's European Opel division said.
Earlier this week, Apple, which does not operate retail stores of its own in Russia, said it was halting online sales of its products "due to extreme fluctuations in the value of the rouble."
Germany's BASF and Russia's Gazprom last night abandoned a long-planned gas assets swap, citing a "difficult political environment".
Other companies are staying the course but are worried about the uncertainty of the situation.
"Visibility is zero, the ball is entirely with the Russian government and central bank," said Lauri Veijalainen, an executive at Finnish retailer Stockmann, which has seven upscale department stores in Russia.
Stockmann and Swedish-based furniture maker IKEA, which has 14 stores and 14 shopping centres in Russia, both plan to raise prices in an effort to compensate for the rouble's fall.
Others companies are planning to open fewer stores. German retail sportswear firm Adidas, which runs 1,100 stores in Russia accounting for more than 7% of group sales, said it would open only 30 stores per year in 2014 and 2015, down from an already reduced target of 80.
However, a strategy of raising prices and reducing investment may not be enough if the economy sinks into recession, further hitting jobs and spending, particularly after the Christmas rush.
Meanwhile, big Western bank players like Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank are expected to continue serving their clients in Russia, though a recession would inevitably cut local revenues.
Austrian lender Raiffeisen Bank International said the rouble's fall had cut its overall capital ratio by one percentage point this year.
