Putin insists on standard rules for offshore zones
ST. PETERSBURG. June 20 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested developing standard rules for offshore firms all over the world.
"You believe that actual existence of offshore zones is damaging to economies. I don't think that this is quite true," Putin said at the G20 Youth Summit in St. Petersburg on Thursday after someone suggested an overall ban on offshore business.
However, he insisted, there should be standard rules for all such zones in a bid to prevent secret tax avoidance, which, he added, is a problem for Russia as well as for others.
"It sometimes even happens in dealing with major firms that we can't find out who the real owner is or who is behind them, we compare this to the so-called Russian matryoshka - before you get to the bottom you don't know what's there and who the real owner is," he said.
It was also suggested at the Youth Summit that a special tax be levied on offshore firms. Putin promised to bring the suggestion to the notice of G20 leaders. "Of course, such a suggestion will make some people faint. But I will say that it isn't my idea, that it's a suggestion from young people," he said.