Terms for foreign investors to return to Russia are generally clear, regulatory act being drafted - Novak

MOSCOW. May 19 (Interfax) - Ministries continue to work on criteria to grant foreign investors who left Russia due under pressure from sanctions access to the Russian market and this should result in a separate regulatory act, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told journalists.

"The authorities are working, the Economic Development Ministry is looking at measures together with other [ministries]. The approaches are generally clear, and the corresponding regulatory act is being drafted," he said.

The Russian president gave the government, together with businesses, until May 15 to look at the terms foreign investors to return to the Russian market following the annual congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) held in March 2025.

An Interfax source said earlier that the RSPP had given its proposals at the end of April, setting down three possible routes back in: a tough "red" one with the mandatory consent of the government commission and compliance with the terms it imposed for those who left in bad faith but plan to invest in strategic industries; a middle "amber" path with a more streamlined consent procedure and relaxed obligations for those guilty of minor infractions when leaving and who plan to work in the industries most affected by the sanctions; and an easy "green" path through approval from the relevant ministry for those who behaved properly when leaving the Russian market and do not plan to work in areas requiring state support.

President Vladimir Putin said a week ago at a meeting with the Delovaya Rossiya business association that representatives of big businesses from unfriendly countries keen to return to Russia had approached him.

He said Russia was ready to accept non-resident investors, but would look at "how they behaved" when leaving the market, as well as whether the return benefits the Russian economy and how it will affect the business of domestic companies. "If we have something to gain from one company or another coming back then they should be allowed in. To put it simply, in layman's terms, if have nothing to gain we'd have to find a thousand reasons why a particular company should not be here," he said.

"On the return [of foreign companies to the Russian market] we will be interested in both how those companies behaved and how our businesses have invested," Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said.

"The thing is that if our businesses have occupied a niche and invested in it, of course, we should give them time to get a return on their investments," he said.