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The Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Russia have prepared a decision allowing foreign investment also from countries that have imposed sanctions against Russia. This was announced by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on 20 June at a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"We have now come up with a great idea that if you enter the Russian market as an investor, no matter whether you are friendly or unfriendly, you can take out the same amount of money you put in plus the respective yield. But this will have to be decided at a higher level," he said.

This was confirmed by Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina, who said that the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank share a "common position" on the need to attract new investments, while "the restrictions that are currently imposed as a response [to counter-sanctions] should not apply to those new investtments."

Last December, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev announced in the State Duma that conditions for raising foreign investment were being prepared. He said the financial authorities were preparing a draft presidential decree with guarantees for new foreign investors. According to the deputy minister, investments from unfriendly countries "will come under the guise of friendly ones, through a chain of intermediaries." He expressed confidence that the "first signs" of such investments would appear as early as 2025.

Currently, the withdrawal of income from Russian securities and dividends for foreign investors is effectively blocked — by default, they receive money in special "C" accounts (except dividends amounting to less than RUB 10 million a month). Funds from such accounts can be used in a very limited way and only in Russia, for example to pay taxes. There are also restrictions on doing business in strategic industries for "unfriendly" foreign entities, restrictions on corporate rights, and the possibility of introducing external management of assets.

Experts surveyed by Forbes noted that simply lifting the restrictions imposed by Russia on foreign investors will not be enough — Western countries will also need to review their sanctions. For example, the US Presidential Executive Order of 6 April 2022, which prohibits US citizens and legal entities from investing in the Russian economy, remains in force. "Foreign investors are primarily concerned about the possibility of sanctions being imposed directly on them by their own regulators," said Dmitry Lesnov, deputy general director of Finam's brokerage business.