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Non-residents more than doubled their purchases of Russian corporate bonds in May 2026 compared with April, the Bank of Russia said in its monthly financial market risks review on 9 June.

On the primary market — that is, through investing in new issues — foreign investors bought corporate bonds worth 17.1 billion rubles, up from 6.7 billion rubles in April. On the secondary market the increase was more modest, at 7.6 billion against 5.2 billion rubles. Total purchases by non-residents in May thus reached almost 25 billion rubles (equivalent to $340 million), more than twice the April figure.

Large bond issues in May came from Gazprom Neft (87 billion rubles and 100 billion rubles respectively) and from state development corporation VEB.RF (150 billion rubles), according to RBC.

Russia's finance ministry had earlier reported a degree of foreign interest in the domestic market. Ivan Chebeskov, a deputy finance minister, described it as 'hedge funds' cowboy money" channelled in through friendly jurisdictions. In April 2026 another deputy minister, Alexei Moiseev, said a sharp inflow of non-resident money was possible if the geopolitical situation improved.

Most analysts polled by RBC, however, believe the rise in foreign holdings of local bonds is more likely linked to "quasi-non-residents" — Russian entities investing through professional intermediaries based in friendly countries. A significant share of the inflow came from "friendly non-residents and quasi-non-residents", said Anna Kazaryan, an analyst at Sirius Capital. The reported volume of non-resident investment is small relative to the total amount of securities placed, added Ilya Golubov, investment director at asset manager RenCap.