Starting in March 2020, Rospatent implemented Covid-19 pandemic containment measures in line with the high-alert regime adopted by the authorities. In particular, new rules were established for handling communication with applicants during the obligatory self-isolation period, such as a ban on accepting paper-based applications and other measures restricting direct communication.

On 21 April 2020, the Russian Supreme Court clarified in an official Review certain issues of judicial practice related to the application of legislation in the context of measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 and more specifically in relation to:

In The Corner Office feature of CEE Legal Matters we ask Managing Partners at leading law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their unique roles and responsibilities. In light of current events, the question for this online occurrence of the feature is: "What have been the top three most often asked COVID-19 related questions that you have gotten from clients in the last month?”

DLA Piper has advised Debex on the sale of a minority stake in the company to Dmitry Shushkin, the managing director of ABBYY Russia.

White & Case has advised VTB Bank on the USD 1.7 billion restructuring of Russian mining and metal company Mechel PAO and on various matters connected to the related sale of the Elga Coal Complex, one of Mechel's main assets.

DLA Piper has advised Russian private equity firm Baring Vostok on the acquisition of a minority stake in Synergetic, a Russian manufacturer of environmentally friendly detergents and cosmetics. Synergetic was advised by Baker McKenzie.

Lawyers in Baker McKenzie's Moscow office were part of the firm's multi-jurisdictional team advising arrangers and dealers Citi and J.P. Morgan and dealers Barclays, BofA Securities, and HSBC on the establishment of a USD 6.5 billion Global Medium Term Note program by VEON, a global provider of connectivity and Internet services.

Russian lawyer Fedor Teselkin is the only CEE representative of the 21 new partners at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer worldwide.

Under an Executive Order of the Russian President, special rules for foreign nationals to stay and work in Russia will apply from 15 March to 15 June 2020.

Federal Law No. 102-FZ dated 1 April 2020 (the “Law”) enacts a number of tax support measures applicable to Russian taxpayers, primarily those belonging to negatively affected sectors of the economy. The Law also delegates certain legislative powers relating to taxation to the Russian government.

In response to the proclamation of non-working days in Russia from 4 to 30 April, many employers subject to the President’s Executive Order* dated 2 April 2020 (the “Executive Order”) have asked if they can provide their employees with “leave” during this period.

Six CEE-based lawyers — Agnieszka Skorupinska, Jakub Podkowa, and Jakub Wieczorek in Warsaw, Natalia Kushniruk in Kyiv, Roxana Fratila in Bucharest, and Artashes Oganov in Moscow — are among the 41 worldwide that CMS has promoted to the firm's partnership as part of its 2020 round.

As already mentioned in our previous news on this topic, due to COVID-19 the Russian State Duma adopted on 18 March 2020 Federal Law No. 50-FZ according to which Russian joint stock companies (JSC) can, based on the decision of the Board of Directors, conduct annual shareholders’ meetings in 2020 via absentee voting.

Contributed by Alrud.

In the current situation, many Russian companies, especially those with foreign investment, have found they are unable to hold their annual meetings (“Annual Meetings”) in full compliance with applicable laws. This is due to both the recent tightening of formal requirements for corporate resolutions and new restrictions on movement, meetings and business operations in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 11 April, the Moscow Mayor and the Governor of the Moscow Region introduced a digital passes regime.

On March 19, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Linklaters had advised Sovcombank on its arrangement of a RUB 5.7 billion domestic green project bonds issued by an orphan special purpose vehicle, SFO RuSol 1 LLC. We spoke to Sergei Kaduk, Executive Director for Securitization and Project Finance at Sovcombank, about the Issuance.

As announced by the Russian President on 25 March 2020, the Russian Ministry of Finance has sent an official request to the Ministry of Finance of Cyprus to modify the existing double taxation treaty (DTT) between the two countries.