Andrei Klishas spoke about possible restrictions for the departed Russians

Andrei Klishas, ​​head of the committee on state building and constitutional legislation of the Federation Council, said in an interview with Vedomosti that the authorities could develop measures that would “make being abroad less comfortable” for Russians who left the country since the beginning of partial mobilization.

“Many of them fled, but continue to work in Russian companies remotely,” he explained. – Can we change the law in this regard and limit the schemes that allow people to work there [за рубежом], and receive money from here, and we cannot understand whether they pay all taxes? Can”.

The senator allowed a corresponding change in the legislation, without specifying which regulations need to be corrected.

At the same time, Klishas recalled that it is impossible to prevent the return of citizens to Russia, as this is contrary to the Constitution. “I don’t think that the people who left the country committed a crime: if they had committed it, appropriate cases would have been initiated,” he stressed. – But do we need to persuade them to return in different ways? Would you like to offer some additional perks for this? I think not. Why do we have to pay extra to those people who fled from the mobilization so that they come back?”

According to the senator, the act committed by the departed Russians “from the point of view of moral and ethical” is more likely to be condemned than not. “You can probably say that everyone is in a different situation, but basically, it seems to me, people still condemn such behavior when citizens flee the country from mobilization,” he specified.

The senator added that, in his opinion, restrictions on work from abroad should be introduced “for [сотрудников] sensitive areas” of the economy. He cited transport security and the public sector as examples of such industries.

Russians who left the country and lost the status of a Russian tax resident are already paying taxes at an increased rate – 30% instead of 13% in relation to labor income from Russian sources, Marina Belyakova, partner of B1, reminded Vedomosti. “In recent years, the question of equalizing this rate with the general rate has been raised more than once,” she said. – An alternative method, which is used by some states, is the introduction of taxes on exit – a kind of payment for the loss of previously existing tax resident status. But this approach is much more difficult to administer.”

Political scientist Pavel Sklyanchuk noted that apparently there is no final decision in power on what to do with the Russians who left the country. “Citizens who left the mobilization were offered [на словах] deprive them of cars, citizenship, recognize them as foreign agents, prohibit them from returning to the country,” he recalled. – There is a strong desire among some politicians not to leave “deviators” unpunished, while others offer to “understand and forgive”.

Some legislators, indeed, spoke negatively about those who left. At the end of September, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced the creation of lists of citizens who left the country. He said that Russians are fleeing the mobilization to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), where Moscow has “created stability.”

“They sang of the West and those countries that abandoned them, where they are despised, they are not needed. At the same time, they constantly questioned the work of our country to create stability in the border areas, the same Kazakhstan, and other states. They criticize, but where are they running now? – said the deputy. – Where we have created stability. Where the EAEU was created, there are economic freedoms, but are we abandoning our country? Then they will sit out the time that scared them, stand in line back across the border. But how do we treat them? Here’s the question.”

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at the end of November that the Finance Ministry was inclined not to change the residency status of Russians working abroad, which would allow them to pay taxes at the same rate as those working in Russia – 13%. He explained that the department considered the relevant issue and discussed it with representatives of the Parliament. In October, Siluanov called the idea of ​​imposing personal income tax on the salaries of Russians who left the country and continue to receive income from Russia, “a matter of fair taxation.”

In November, it became known that from July to September the number of departures of Russians to Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia and Abkhazia was a record for five years, according to the FSB. In total, from July to September, Russians traveled abroad 9.7 million times, which is almost 2 times more than in the second quarter of the year (5 million) and 1.2 million more than in July-September last year.