The overwhelming majority of companies that took the advantage of simplified registration in Russia special administrative regions (SAR) has redomiciled from Cyprus, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development Ilya Torosov told TASS News Agency.
“The overwhelming majority is from Cyprus. This is because the Netherlands does not let [them] go to Russia. That is why we also have the so-called ‘transit redomiciliation’ appeared. That is, they initially move to Cyprus and then to US. This is because they cannot prohibit redomiciliation of companies inside the EU,” Torosov said.
In total, 101 companies and one international fund moved to SAR so far, including 92 redomiciled to the Kaliningrad Region, he added.
A special administrative region (SAR) is an area offering flexible tax and currency regulations for companies which have decided to relocate to Russia from a foreign jurisdiction.
They were created as part of an effort by the Russian government to bring back assets to the country. Holdings with international assets re-registered there could qualify for tax benefits.
SARs exist in the Kaliningrad region between Poland and Lithuania, and in Primorsky, an area that borders North Korea and China.