Russian govt extends right of companies not to disclose sensitive info until July 1, 2023

MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax) - The Russian government has extended until July 1, 2023 the entitlement of companies not to disclose sensitive corporate information at all or to disclose limited information due to the threat of sanctions.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a government resolution ion the matter, the government's press office said.

Resolution No. 351 of March 12, 2022 was amended.

"The decision was made to protect stock market participants from possible sanctions from unfriendly states," the government said in a statement.

Resolution No. 351 deals, in particular, with interim and annual financial statements, as well as auditor's reports. The decision to grant issuers the right not to disclose this information temporarily was made by the government in March 2022 amid sanctions on Russia over the military operation in Ukraine. Availability of the relevant data is not limited for state agencies, local governments, state non-budgetary funds, and the Central Bank of Russia (CBR).

An extension of permission for issuers not to publish annual and interim consolidated financial statements is also being prepared. Last week, the Finance Ministry posted a draft government decree for discussion on the federal website of draft regulations, which would prolong this procedure until July 1, 2023. Changes are being proposed to the government decree No. 395 from March 18, 2022.

Meanwhile, in mid-November Central Bank of Russia (CBR) Governor Elvira Nabiullina spoke about the regulator's plans to increase the amount of information disclosed by financial and non-financial organizations.

"When these shocks happened, we closed a lot of information of financial institutions. But for the financial market to work actively and for investors to be able to make investment decisions, of course we need a return to information disclosure by financial and non-financial institutions (except for information that makes companies more sensitive to sanctions). We are getting ready to start disclosing more information so that investors can make decisions," she said, speaking at a joint session of the State Duma committees to consider the main vectors of monetary policy for 2023-2025.