Kremlin: providing anonymity to foreign investors in the Crimea might be impossible
Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, believes on the basis of experts’ opinions that providing anonymity to foreign investors coming to the Crimea by means of offshore elements will not work. He expressed such an opinion on June 11, at the media forum “Open Crimea: with your own eyes”, as reported by Kryminform news website.
“In the State Duma there is a corresponding draft law, we have discussed it with experts from the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance. So far, everyone who has spoken there has been saying that it will be difficult to implement this ruling,” he said.
The draft law, prepared by deputies of the Russian State Duma, proposes the introduction of offshore elements in the context of the Free Economic Zone of the Crimea and Sevastopol. Notably, it proposes the possible creation of trusts on the peninsula, which would supposedly provide anonymity to investors coming to the Crimea.
Since 2014, the Crimea has been under sanctions relating to the jurisdiction of Russia over its territory which is not recognized by the Ukrainian authorities, the leaders of the EU or the US.
The internationally recognized Ukrainian territory of Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation in March of 2014 in the wake of the Ukrainian revolution. The Kremlin has faced international condemnation for its annexation of the Peninsula, leading many western countries to impose economic sanctions against Russia. In the United Nations, only Afghanistan, North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Syria recognize Crimea as a legitimate federal subject of Russia.