The EU may lift some anti-Russian sanctions to help its companies leave Russia

The EU countries want to include some easements in the eleventh package of sanctions aimed at helping European businesses to leave Russia faster. The EU fears that otherwise companies could find themselves in a tax trap and be forced to finance the war.

Source. This was reported by EUobserver.

In particular, the EU countries may allow transactions with sanctioned individuals and companies if they are absolutely necessary for transactions, including the sale, which "lead to the curtailment of activities in Russia until August 31, 2023, joint or similar enterprises with individuals or companies that such individuals owned before February 28, 2022."

Legal services to Russian companies are prohibited under the eighth package of EU sanctions, but the eleventh package proposes to allow those related to the departure of foreigners from Russia until December 31 of this year.

Foreign companies leaving Russia are already required to sell their assets at a 50% discount and pay a 10% tax. The proposal to unfreeze the transactions should protect them from even greater financial losses in Russia after the termination of double taxation agreements with "unfriendly" countries. The newspaper's sources say that after that, a 25% tax on the profits of foreign companies remaining in Russia will be introduced.

The "trap of the Ministry of Finance" will be closed, and those who fall into it will have to de facto finance Putin's "war." It is possible that Russia will carry out such an operation in response to the 11th package, the publication writes.

EUobserver again points to the Austrian Raiffeisen, which risked its reputation for the sake of financial results in Russia (now it provides the group with half of its net profit). Raiffeisen Bank recently announced that it could withdraw its Russian subsidiary from the group's perimeter no earlier than the end of the third quarter of 2023.