Rosfinmonitoring has recorded a doubling of capital outflows from Russia to the UAE

Rosfinmonitoring recorded an increase in the outflow of Russian capital to the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Asian countries. For example, in the UAE, capital outflows increased by 96% compared to last year. This was announced at a round table in the Federation Council on December 5 by the head of the risk assessment department of Rosfinmonitoring, Evgeny Shevlyakov. The Ministry of Finance notes a trend towards the transfer, for example, of Cypriot holdings to the UAE, where rates on a number of taxes have been reset to zero.

“Unfortunately, I can’t give you numbers, but I see how the flow to the United Arab Emirates has increased by 96%. At the same time, both general flows and flows of suspicious transactions moved there,” said a representative of Rosfinmonitoring (quoted from Forbes).

In addition to the UAE, Turkey, Asian countries and Serbia are trying to accumulate Russian capital, a department representative said. “At the same time, we understand that part of the money that goes there may come back,” he noted.

According to Evgeny Shevlyakov, it is impossible to accurately assess the scale of offshorization. Representatives of the Federal Tax Service, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and Rosfinmonitoring were unable to answer questions about the number of companies in the main sectors of the economy with offshore shares in the capital. The head of the international taxation department of the Federal Tax Service, Alexandra Kadet, as noted by Forbes, stated that not a single Russian agency has information about all the beneficiaries of quasi-Russian companies.

Before the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the mechanism of registration in special economic regions (SAR) was not popular among Russian companies – as of February 2022, there were 66 residents. Now, according to the Ministry of Economy, 292 residents are registered in the SAR.

How the authorities discuss the choice between stimulating and forcing capital to return – in the material “Offshore has two ends”.

Anastasia Larina