Doing Business in Russia: Baker McKenzie Guides and Alternatives

What a 'Doing Business in Russia' guide actually contains

These handbooks are marketing documents produced by law firms for prospective clients. They are free, usually written in English, and follow a recognisable template: legal forms of doing business, registration and corporate governance, tax overview, employment, intellectual property, real estate, currency regulation and dispute resolution. Their value is structural - they explain the shape of the system and the vocabulary you will meet in Russian documents.

Their weakness is the same in every edition: they are snapshots. A guide is accurate on the day it goes to print and decays from then on, most quickly in the chapters on tax, currency control and approvals. Several international firms have reorganised or withdrawn from their Russian practices since 2022, so the availability, language and update cycle of these handbooks now varies considerably by firm.

• Typically covered: OOO and AO company forms, registration steps, tax overview, employment, IP, contracts, dispute resolution.
• Typically thin or absent: current rates, currency settlement mechanics, sector approval procedures, regional incentive regimes.
• Always check the edition date and the date of the last revision before you rely on a single line of it.

Why an edition dated before 2022 can mislead you

The Russian tax and payments framework has been rewritten faster than any handbook cycle. Corporate profit tax stands at 25%, with 0-5% available inside special regimes (Federal Tax Service, 2025). The standard VAT rate is 22% since 1 January 2026 (Federal Tax Service, 2026). The Bank of Russia key rate was 14% in September 2026, which drives the cost of ruble financing and the discount rates used in any valuation you build.

Payments infrastructure has also moved. 86% of exports are settled in rubles and friendly-country currencies (Bank of Russia, 2025) and 88% of retail payments are cashless (Bank of Russia, 2025). A guide that assumes dollar or euro settlement through European correspondent banks describes a world that no longer matches how contracts are actually paid.

Nothing in this list is static. Treat every rate and threshold you read anywhere, including here, as something to be confirmed with an adviser at the moment of the transaction.

• Corporate profit tax: 25%, with 0-5% in special regimes (Federal Tax Service, 2025).
• Standard VAT: 22% since 1 January 2026 (Federal Tax Service, 2026).
• Key rate: 14% (Bank of Russia, September 2026).
• Settlement: 86% of exports in rubles and friendly-country currencies (Bank of Russia, 2025).

The restrictions that decide your structure, not your paperwork

Most guides handle these in a footnote. In practice they determine whether a deal is possible at all, so they belong at the start of your analysis.

Acquisitions in strategic sectors require government approval under Law 57-FZ. Investors from countries designated unfriendly face special account regimes and additional government approvals, which affects how money enters, how dividends leave and how an exit is executed. Foreigners cannot own agricultural land - the maximum is a lease of up to 49 years. Border areas including Sochi, Anapa, Gelendzhik and Novorossiysk are closed to foreign land ownership.

None of these rules is a formality. Each one changes the holding structure, the financing route and the timeline, and each should be tested against your specific profile before you sign anything.

• Strategic sectors: government approval required under Law 57-FZ.
• Investors from designated unfriendly countries: special account regimes and government approvals apply.
• Agricultural land: ownership not permitted for foreigners; lease up to 49 years.
• Closed border areas including Sochi, Anapa, Gelendzhik and Novorossiysk: no foreign land ownership.

How to assemble a working legal and compliance stack

A guide tells you what exists. A stack tells you who does what. Build it in this order, because each step narrows the next.

First, define the activity precisely - trading, joint venture, local production, portfolio holding, or a services entity. Second, engage Russian counsel for local law and a separate compliance adviser in your home jurisdiction; these are two different questions and should not be answered by the same person. Third, screen the target sector against Law 57-FZ and against the restrictions above, including whether your investor profile triggers special account rules. Fourth, choose the corporate vehicle and the jurisdiction of the holding company. Fifth, handle registration with the Federal Tax Service, currency control under Bank of Russia rules and banking. Sixth, settle contracts, IP ownership and the dispute resolution clause. Seventh, diarise an annual review, because the framework moves faster than your files will.

On dispute resolution specifically, be realistic about enforcement. The clause you sign in year one is the one you live with in year five, and the practical enforceability of any foreign seat or arbitral award deserves its own analysis, not a template paragraph.

• Registration and tax administration: Federal Tax Service.
• Currency control and banking rules: Bank of Russia.
• Sector approvals: government commission under Law 57-FZ.
• Regional incentives: regional authorities and the relevant development corporations.

Incentive regimes that the classic handbooks undersell

General guides tend to describe the default corporate and tax environment and say little about the negotiated and territorial regimes, which is where many projects actually become viable. These are worth raising with counsel in the first meeting rather than the fifth.

There are 90 special investment contracts covering more than ₽2 trillion of committed investment (Government of Russia, 2025). 674 companies are registered in special administrative regions (Ministry of Economic Development, 2025). The Free Port of Vladivostok hosts 2,130 projects (KRDV, 2026), and the Arctic Zone has reached 1,000 residents with ₽1.1 trillion declared (KRDV, December 2025). On the capital markets side, 106 investment platforms are licensed by the Bank of Russia (May 2026), and market capitalisation stands at 19.5% of GDP against a 66% target by 2030 (Bank of Russia, August 2026).

Terms, eligibility and available benefits under each regime change and are negotiated case by case. Verify current conditions directly with the administering body before modelling anything.

• Special investment contracts: 90 agreements, ₽2T+ investment (Government of Russia, 2025).
• Special administrative regions: 674 companies (Ministry of Economic Development, 2025).
• Free Port of Vladivostok: 2,130 projects (KRDV, 2026).
• Arctic Zone: 1,000 residents, ₽1.1T declared (KRDV, December 2025).

Who the legal market now serves, and why it matters to you

The readership of a 'Doing Business in Russia' handbook has changed. 75% of foreign direct investment now comes from friendly countries, against 25% previously (UNCTAD via Izvestia, 2025). That means the questions investors actually ask - settlement in dirhams, yuan or rupees, Islamic finance structures, bilateral treaty routing, Chinese and Gulf joint venture formats - are often not the questions the older English-language guides were written to answer.

If you are structuring from the Gulf, China, India, South-East Asia, Turkey or the CIS, the standard Western-oriented handbook will still explain the corporate forms usefully, but you should expect to supplement it heavily on banking, documentation language and treaty access. Ask specifically whether your counsel has closed transactions from your jurisdiction in the past two years; that question separates a current adviser from a well-branded one.

• FDI origin has shifted decisively toward friendly countries (UNCTAD via Izvestia, 2025).
• Older guides assume Western counterparties, Western banks and Western treaty routing.
• Ask for transactions closed from your own jurisdiction in the last two years.

A verification checklist before you rely on any guide

Print this next to whatever handbook you are reading. If a guide cannot survive these seven questions, it is background reading rather than a working document.

Finally, and this applies to everything above: this article is general information about how the system is organised. It is not investment or legal advice, and it cannot substitute for advice on your own facts, structure and jurisdiction.

• What is the edition date, and what has changed since?
• Are the tax rates current, including profit tax and VAT?
• How are payments actually settled from your country today?
• Does your sector require approval under Law 57-FZ?
• Does your investor profile trigger special account or approval requirements?
• Are land restrictions relevant, including agricultural land and closed border areas?
• Have you taken separate compliance advice in your home jurisdiction?

FAQ