Putin announces nearing finalization of work to decriminalize business-related offenses

MOSCOW. May 26 (Interfax) - The work on decriminalizing business-related offenses will soon be finalized, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) members on Friday.

Decriminalization initiatives were put forward at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2022, Putin said.

"The elaboration of such ideas and proposals should be finalized and final decisions should be made in the near future. The government is actively working on this, and the work will be brought to its logical end shortly," he said.

"In February 2022, you and I discussed decriminalization of the evasion of taxes and other payments if such debts are fully repaid. We also mentioned a shorter prescription period for offenses of the kind. It was not easy to reach a compromise in this area but the work was done, respective federal bills were signed into law in March of this year and took effect," Putin said.

The work on lessening administrative burden on businesses has started with the participation of entrepreneurial communities, he said.

Putin pledged further efforts with due account of the opinion of businessmen and to their benefit.