At the beginning of this month, a long-awaited draft law on the procedure for foreign investments in commercial organisations deemed of strategic importance for the national security of the Russian Federation was signed into law by Russian president.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this law since it is the first of its kind in the history of Russian legislation. Before that, the only law specifically governing foreign investment in Russia was a federal law on foreign investments in Russia passed in 1999, which stipulates national treatment for foreign investors and gives them the right to engage in investment activity in any form authorised by law. In other words, it established basic rules for foreign investors wanting to enter the Russian market. According to the new law, the legal status of foreign investors has essentially changed.
