“It cannot be said that business and the state live in love and harmony in everything”

In 2022, due to the fear of losing access to Russian resources, the market went crazy, which brought windfall profits to a number of companies. The state asked to share them and came up with a windfall tax. At first, it was designed as a tax only on the 20 largest groups, and eventually spread to 1,000 much smaller companies, Alexei Repik, chairman of the Business Russia business association, told Vedomosti. Organizations from the “valley of death” fell under the collection: on the one hand, they do not have benefits for SMEs, on the other hand, they do not have the opportunity to enter high offices. The Ministry of Finance, according to Repik, replied: “It just happened” and promised to think about fine-tuning the fee for the second reading. Nevertheless, things are not so bad for business: after the departure of large transnational corporations, entrepreneurs have felt a sense of space.