It was reported on Tuesday, January 20, 2015, by RIA Novosti (the Russian state news agency) that the Russian State Duma has adopted at its first reading a draft law on the recognition of activity of foreign/international organizations in Russia as “undesired” where they pose a threat to the foundation of constitutional system, defense capability and safety of Russia. Assets of such organizations will be frozen and the activity of their Russian representatives along with distribution of information…

On September 19, 2014, the Russian Government adopted Decree No. 959 (the “Decree”), introducing import duties on a wide-range of food products and manufactured goods originating from Ukraine. The Decree will only be implemented when Russian authorities consider that Ukraine has started to implement the economic terms of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement (ratified on 16 September 2014, as reported in our earlier blog entry). Until that time, the CIS FTA preferential regime with Ukraine, which allows…

On August 7, 2014 the Russian Government issued its Resolution in execution of Russian President’s Decree No. 560 of August 6, 2014, establishing the list of agricultural and food products prohibited for importation into Russia, if the jurisdiction of origin of which is the EU, US, Canada, Australia or Norway (i.e. those that have imposed Ukraine-related economic sanctions against Russian citizens and companies). The Resolution comes into force starting from the date of its official publication (the…

The President of Russia has signed today an executive order imposing a one year import ban on certain agricultural products, agricultural raw materials and food products originating from the countries that have introduced sanctions against Russian natural and legal persons, as well as from those countries that acceded to such sanctions. The list of products subject to the ban as well as the list of relevant executive measures is yet to be adopted by the…