WASHINGTON, October 25. /TASS/. Russia is working on the possibility of lifting restrictions on new investments from unfriendly countries and under certain conditions is to promptly resolve this issue, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov told TASS. He is now in Washington to participate in the autumn session of the governing bodies of the IMF and the World Bank.
"Yes, we have been working on it. That means that appropriate changes in legislation will be required. But <...> the speed of changes depends on the request [of investors]," the Deputy Finance Minister said commenting on the possibility of lifting restrictions on new capital investments from unfriendly countries.
"We see that there is in fact interest from investors from unfriendly countries, there is interest in Russian assets. I was surprised when I learned that some investors from unfriendly countries even invest through assets in C-accounts [introduced by the Bank of Russia in 2022]. That is, they are ready to take on such a risk and, in fact, buy frozen assets, counting on the long-term perspective, on the fact that the Russian economy will grow at an accelerated pace, and the assets will also increase in price, and, at some point, they can be unfrozen," Chebeskov noted.
He assured that the Russian authorities do not intend to discriminate against investors from unfriendly countries.
"Our logic is that if there are investors who are ready to invest money in the Russian economy, we do not discriminate here, unlike other countries. We say: do you want to work with us? You are welcome. It does not matter to us what country you are from. We are ready to create conditions for working in Russia. We adhere to such partnership market principles," the deputy minister stressed.
"Therefore, if this request strengthens and we see a large number of participants in such a request, then we can do it (make the necessary changes to the legislation - TASS) promptly. But what is the problem? The fact that Western regulators are interfering with this in every possible way. They are interfering in every possible way. Both in terms of asset exchange and investment. They prevent their businesses, their investors from working and doing what is in their interests," Chebeskov explained.
"On the contrary, we are guided primarily by the interests of our investors, our business. If this coincides with the interests of other investors from other countries, no matter what country, we do not politicize it," the Deputy Finance Minister of Finance added. Chebeskov specified that among investors representing unfriendly countries, Americans are the ones who are primarily interested in new investments in the Russian economy. "First of all, investors from the United States are interested. They look at investments very pragmatically," the Deputy Minister said.