Kommersant Publishing House publishes a study devoted to the changes in the legal services market during the active imposition of economic sanctions this year and recommends consultants in the most demanded areas of sanctions.

RI-Consulting Law Office was noted in the most difficult area of practice: Defense in economic criminal cases. The Company is included in TOP 5 of the best companies in Russia according to Kommersant.

About the legal problem:

The business community, especially its foreign part, is faced with a dilemma: to comply with Western sanctions and fall under criminal liability in Russia or to ignore the sanctions and fall under criminal liability in other jurisdictions. Managers and owners of businesses in the Russian Federation today may be primarily subject to criminal liability for providing assistance to foreign states and territories that commit unfriendly acts against the Russian Federation, as well as for failure to comply with the anti-crisis measures introduced in Russia in February-April 2022.

The management of Russian divisions of international companies, which are leaving Russia and whose assets are taken over by an external administration, face the risk of criminal liability for non-payment of wages (Art. 145.1 of the Criminal Code), for the execution of sanctions (the amendments to p. 2, Art. 201 of the Criminal Code).

The current version of Art. 201 of the RF Criminal Code may also become a problem for the management of companies leaving the RF, including expats, since the absence of management is regarded as an abuse of authority that caused damage to the company or third parties.

A serious headache for business is the accusation of violating currency legislation, which falls under the Criminal Code (articles 193, 193.1 of the RF Criminal Code).

Due to sanctions restrictions, companies supplying to the public sector face difficulties in importing the components needed to fulfill government contracts. If they turn to intermediary firms, they risk being charged with embezzlement (Article 159 of the Criminal Code), because the investigating authority takes the cost of the goods from the manufacturer as the basis and imputes the difference with the amount spent from the budget.

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