LONDON (Reuters) – Russia announced on Monday that all corporate deals with companies and individuals from so-called “hostile countries” will now have to be approved by a government commission, according to a government resolution.
The government said it had approved a list of countries and territories that had taken “disagreeable actions” against Russia, its companies and citizens in the wake of severe economic sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The list follows a presidential decree of March 5 that allows the Russian government, companies and citizens to temporarily pay in roubles foreign currency debt owed to creditors in “hostile countries”.
A government statement showed a list of countries including the United States, EU member states, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and Ukraine.
To make such payments, the government stated that debtors should open a special type of ruble account with a Russian bank and transfer a ruble equivalent to the outstanding foreign currency amount in accordance with the central bank’s official exchange rate on the payment day .
This temporary agreement for the payment of foreign debts applies to payments in excess of 10 million rubles (USD 76,046) per month.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Alexander Winning)
