Anti-crisis support to business

The State Duma has adopted a law that grants the lessor a number of additional rights in a situation when the lessee is a commercial and/or public catering organisation and is connected with a hostile state/territory On 28 June 2022 the Russian State Duma adopted a Law whereby lessors, under certain conditions, are granted the right to charge a larger rent from lessees that are connected with hostile states/territories and the right to withdraw from lease agreement with such lessees unilaterally.

A law has been signed to the effect that only Russian persons may use subsurface resources The Law was signed and officially published on 28 June 2022. It provides that foreign persons no longer have the right to use subsurface resources in the Russian Federation.

Prosecutors are being vested with the right to challenge business entities’ transactions closed in violation of russian legislation The State Duma has passed the law to considerably extend the supervisory functions of prosecutors in controlling transactions in terms of their compliance with sanctions , anti-money laundering, customs, tax and currency legislation.

The deadlines for the payment of insurance premiums have been extended by a year for a number of categories of payers

The Government’s Decree No. 776 dated 29 April 2022.

The Russian Government has extended the deadlines for the payment of insurance premiums by a year for a number of categories of payers.

The draft law on external administration of companies with foreign membership The draft law No. 104796-8 “On external administration for the management of a company” has been put before the State Duma.

Draft the administrative burden on developers has been decreased The Russian Government has taken steps to streamline administrative procedures in the construction field.

A draft law has been put before the State Duma regarding criminal liability for compliance with foreign sanctions in Russia A draft federal law has been submitted to the State Duma according to which compliance with anti-Russian sanctions will be treated as a severe form of an abuse of powers.

The offset of counterclaims may violate the requirement for the mandatory sale of foreign exchange earnings The official explanation of the Bank of Russia on the issue of the mandatory sale of foreign currency earnings has been published. It follows from the explanation that the fulfilment of obligations under export contracts in a way other than payment to an account with an authorised bank generally violates the requirement for mandatory sale.

Measures to support those who rent property of the city of Moscow Pepeliaev Group advises that the Government of Moscow has adopted  a set of measures to provide economic support to those who rent land plots and non-residential premises.

The Russian Federal Tax Service has confirmed that it is legal to separate IT units into individual legal entities in order to receive tax benefits Pepeliaev Group advises that, according to the position of the Russian Federal Tax Service, the reorganisation of a legal entity as a result of which a standalone IT company is created cannot be considered by tax authorities to be a distortion of facts of economic life and qualify as the application of a tax evasion scheme.

The court has prohibited Meta Platforms Inc. from doing business in Russia On 22 March 2022 the Tverskoy District Court held Meta Platforms Inc. to be an extremist organisation and prohibited it from doing business in Russia.

A special procedure is being revisited for initiating criminal cases for tax offences Pepeliaev Group advises that, on 9 March 2022, a Federal Law came into effect to re-introduce a special procedure for initiating the criminal cases for which articles 198 to 199.2 of the Russian Criminal Code provide.