Russian Law Firms to See More Work with WTO Accession

Apr. 27 – Russian lawyers look forward to Russia’s World Trade Organization upcoming accession, which is highly expected by the end of this summer, as it will boost the demand for legal services, the local press reports quoting market participants.

“The need for legal services will definitely increase,” Alexander Muranov, the managing partner of law firm Muranov, Chernyakov & Partners, said to the Russian daily Vedomosti.

“Some new practices will be built up, for example in the insurance market where expansion of foreign companies is very much expected,” Oksana Balayan, the managing partner of Hogan Lovells, notes. The firm is considering the possibility of establishing a practice in Russia this year. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia to Liberalize Party Politics

Mar. 30 – The Federation Council of Russian Parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed long-awaited legislation to liberalize party politics in Russia, despite concerns raised by existing parties, parliament groups and opposition.

The bill, introduced in mid-February by President Dmitry Medvedev following large-scale protests last December, slashed the minimum membership required for a party to officially register from the current 45,000 to just 500 nationwide. Read the rest of this entry »

Loophole to Keep Putin Away from Corruption Fight

Feb. 27 – An old loophole discovered by the Ministry of Education and proved by St. Petersburg prosecutors may become a hitch to Vladimir Putin’s plans to achieve student support ahead of this year’s presidential elections.

Presidential Decree Number 560, which Dmitry Medvedev issued in 2009 as one of his flagship anti-corruption initiatives, requires the heads of all state-affiliated organizations to disclose publicly their own and their spouse’s income each year.

In line with the law, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of obliging university rectors to declare their incomes as part of his re-election campaign, and the idea has proven popular among students. Read the rest of this entry »

Illegal Turnover Equal to 10 Percent of Russia’s GDP Last Year

Jan. 14 – Financial crimes in Russia last year caused up to US$158 billion (5 trillion rubles) in illegal turnover on the Russian financial market, an amount equal to 10 percent of Russia’s gross domestic product, the Central Bank and Russian Interior Ministry have calculated.

According to their research, 56,700 crimes took place between January and November 2011 that impacted the financial and credit industries of Russia. Read the rest of this entry »

Report: Russia Claims Highest Economic Crime Rate

Dec. 2 – Russia has the world’s highest economic crime rate, according to a newly released survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and The London Business School. The survey shows that the misappropriation of assets remains the most common economic crime (72 percent) with a US$5 million loss reported by 22 percent of the businesses who had encountered fraud.

A total of 126 representatives from Russia’s leading entities took part in the 2011 Economic Crime Survey. The study was designed to seek respondents’ views on economic crime in general and, specifically, about cyber-crime which is a growing concern in C-suites and boardrooms. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia-U.S. to Ease Visa Regulations by New Year

Nov. 25 – A visa agreement between Russia and the United States may be ratified before the New Year’s holiday, although it will have to wait until after a lower house of Russian Parliament, State Duma, is voted into office, according to different reports.

After a four-month delay, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finalized a much-touted U.S.-Russian visa facilitation agreement last week. Read the rest of this entry »

Details on Russia’s Real Estate Deals Soon Available Online

Nov. 16 – The Federal Service for State Registration, Cadaster and Cartography, known as Rosregister, will launch a new online service providing information about each real estate deal that has been made in every Russian region.

Information about all registered real estate deals since 1999 will also be published in the new portal. For example, by some estimates, 17 million real estate deals were made in Russia last year. Read the rest of this entry »

Severance Packages for Senior Executives to be Taxed Starting Next January

Oct. 24 – Russian Finance authorities are trying to take another stab at tax severance packages of senior executives. According to Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov, “severance packages for senior managers at Russian companies are likely to be taxed starting next year.”

“Most likely we will in the near future make the decision that ‘golden parachutes’ will be taxed,” Interfax reported Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov as saying last week at an American Chamber of Commerce tax conference in Moscow. Read the rest of this entry »

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