Today, when legislative requirements are changing every day and new foreign currency restrictions are replacing “old” new restrictions introduced only a week ago, it is crucial to plan your activities very carefully with the current requirements in mind and to analyze not only current, but also potential risks, while fighting the headwinds to the extent possible

In the first half of March 2022, the list of Russian “anti-sanctions” measures changed significantly. Current acts of the Russian state authorities in this area are aimed at solving two key tasks, namely, reducing the outflow of foreign currency from the Russian banking system and limiting the exit of foreign investors from Russian assets.

In early March, numerous legislative changes, restrictions and bans were introduced. However, it can be said without exaggeration that sanctions and anti-sanctions in the area of foreign currency regulation raised the greatest number of concerns.

On March 1, 2022, Presidential Decree No.81 “On additional economic measures for ensuring financial stability of the Russian Federation” was published, which adopted new prohibitions and made some adjustments to the measures adopted earlier.

Uneasy times have arrived, and various sanctions from the US, EU and UK against individuals and Russian companies, in particular, related to banking, as well as foreign-currency anti-sanctions are cause for apprehension when considering the thought of having disposition over assets in Russia and abroad.

Finally, on January 27, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development published Letter No.P11-2-05-200-3571 with explanations and examples defining the meaning of “adaptation” and “modification.”

Moscow has extended restrictive measures in respect to certain categories of individuals until April 1, 2022.

Starting December 29, 2021, amendments to the Law “On legal status of foreigners” will take effect. Under these amendments, foreigners entering Russia must undergo a medical examination, as well as be fingerprinted and photographed. Olga Anisimova gives an overview of the requirements in this brief.

Earlier, we wrote about the new law “on landing” foreign IT companies, under which some of them must open a representative office, branch or separate legal entity in Russia starting January 1, 2022. Based on this law, on November 22, Roskomnadzor published a list of such companies, which currently includes Google, Apple, Meta Platforms (aka Facebook), Twitter, TikTok, Telegram, Zoom, Likeme, Viber, Discord, Pinterest, Spotify and Twitch.

In our recent article, we discussed the trends and prospects of taxation in respect to international IT companies, including the introduction of a minimum tax rate (global tax) as set by G20 member states.