Some Russian companies don’t want to be called “Russian companies,” and they take active steps to conceal their nationality.

I’ve noticed a pattern after interviewing many Russian business leaders. One insisted that his Moscow-based business was Estonia-based for having a small office there. Another suggested that the location of one key employee — London — merits calling his a “London company.” Another took a direct approach, simply asking that the word “Russia” not appear in anything written about him.

The obfuscation takes different forms, but it achieves the same end: Russian entrepreneurs are diluting their national identity to make their products and services more palatable to the world’s consumers. This doesn’t jibe with my perception of Russia as a generally proud nation. When I raised the issue in private with a Russian friend, he agreed that his country is prideful but suggested it can also be “quite shameful.”

Russian entrepreneurs endeavoring to do meaningful business on the world’s stage face an uphill battle. Regardless of industry, publicly identifying as Russian opens the door to negative stereotypes about election-meddling hackers or fraudulent businesses operating in the same region. It’s an unenviable position: how do you represent yourself when the truth is a perceived liability?

I found two young entrepreneurs willing to speak on the record about doing business while Russian.