Russian govt not in hurry to complete procedure for return of foreign companies, no interest expressed yet - Finance Ministry

MOSCOW. Feb 11 (Interfax) - The Russian government continues to work on the legal procedure by which foreign companies who left the market after the start of the Ukraine conflict can return, but is doing so at a relaxed pace, since these companies have expressed no real interest thus far, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev said.

In March 2022, presidential decree No. 81 set a special procedure for conducting deals with residents of "unfriendly" countries, according to which these deals must be approved by a regulatory commission for foreign investments. A subcommittee was created to review applications and make decisions.

Legal regulations for interactions with non-resident companies, including those who could potentially return, have already been set by this decree and other documents published in development of it, Moiseyev told journalists. "On the whole, we have a system, and it is in action. It doesn't say in decree No. 81 that this is just for selling assets ['exit' deals]. Formally speaking, we already have a legal framework ready. The president just asked for it to be simplified for well-intentioned companies," the deputy minister said.

The corresponding draft decree has been prepared, Moiseyev said. "But for the moment, and let us speak plainly, there is no strong pressure on us to get it approved quickly at all, because nobody has really expressed any interest," he said. He also said that the work on the document was "moving forward bit by bit".

Asked about the criteria which the document would set for the potential return of foreign companies, Moiseyev referred back to statements made earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The main baseline criterion is - this is actually what the president was talking about - that the companies returning should not be on record as having sent funding to the Armed Forces of Ukraine or other Ukrainian groupings; they should not have left their assets to the mercy of fate after their exit, as well as a series of obvious criteria which everybody understands," he said.

Moiseyev himself said that many large companies which are "too scared" to return to Russia at the moment would do so given the opportunity.

"I think that this depends very much on the concrete situation; I am sure many companies will come back. That is unavoidable. Russia, of course, is a highly attractive market, which they have now practically given away completely. And of course, they are going to aim to return to this market at some point," he said.