Russia decides to classify information on companies in Crimea
The Russian government decreed that access to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE) can be restricted if the company is registered in Crimea or Sevastopol.
Access to data from the USRLE can also be restricted if it contains information on companies’ branches or offices in the said regions.
The information will also be treated as classified if the legal entity is under foreign sanctions or is related to the state defense order.
Lawyers interviewed by BFM radio station observed that if the goal of the decree is to provide protection from secondary sanctions, this approach will not be particularly effective. They explained that Russian since government organizations have access to such data in any case, leaks are quite possible. It is likely that the kinds of companies whose data has been classified will be the object of particular interest to foreign authorities.
When Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, it added the information on the companies there to the USRLE. Russia’s Federal Tax Service has shown that the data has not been subsequently reorganized.