Privatization, with its ultimate objective of raising economic efficiency, has been central to the transformation of the economies of Eastern Europe and Russia. The perception of foreign direct investment in the privatization process of transitional economies is often shrouded in emotional prejudice and daily political needs and remote from rational economic considerations. Eastern Europe is no exception to this trend. This study identifies the presence of multinationals and their role in privatization in Eastern Europe. It binds together the current theoretical knowledge of foreign capital and privatization in transition economies with a close examination of the privatization policies and strategies in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia and Russia.