This is the twelfth update of the Foreign Investment in Russia Safety Alert initially published on 4 March 2022.

On July 15, 2022, the State Duma held an extraordinary meeting which was mostly devoted to personnel decisions:

• The State Duma approved the appointment of Denis Manturov as Deputy Prime Minister.

• At the same day President Putin dismissed Deputy PM Yury Borisov. The powers of Y. Borisov in the sphere of the military-industrial complex were transferred to D. Manturov.

The fact of holding the extraordinary session, as well as promotion of D. Manturov, mean that the issues supervised by D. Manturov (first of all, import substitution – including in the military-industrial complex segment, parallel imports, etc.) received the highest priority and he received additional powers to speed up their resolution.

During his speech in the State Duma, D. Manturov stated the need for a turn from “an absolutely market-oriented industrial policy to a policy of ensuring technological sovereignty”. In this regard, we can expect a transition to “manual management” in Russian industrial policy, and, as a result, an increase in uncertainty and risks for foreign business. Manturov also mentioned the preparation of counter-sanctions in a number of industries.

In this update, we will outline the current status of the key initiatives affecting the activities of foreign businesses in Russia, the nature of discussions and prospects for key bills including those directly related to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and taking into account Mr. Manturov’s promotion.

These initiatives include:

• Parallel imports issues.
• Introduction of external management to the assets of foreign companies in Russia.
• Parameters for approving transactions for the sale of assets by foreign businesses in the Russian Federation.
• Updated legislation on foreign agents and foreign influence.
• Government mobilization initiatives and related risks for foreign businesses.

Please also note that the possibility of new extraordinary sessions until September, if necessary, remains.