Russian Deputy Minister: Legislative Support Measures Not Only Helped to Thwart Sanctions, But Also Find New Ways for Further Development

Russian Deputy Minister of Energy and State Secretary Anastasia Bondarenko spoke at the panel session ‘Russia’s Fuel and Energy Sector Under Sanctions: Help or Hindrance?’ during Russian Energy Week (REW 2022).

Bondarenko said that the sanctions pressure that unfriendly countries are exerting on Russia today is an attempt to influence the Russian economy, including the fuel and energy industry.

“Given the external pressure, crucial decisions were taken at the legislative level to support citizens, businesses, our political and financial systems, and security. And now we can definitely say that such support measures have helped not only to thwart the sanctions, but also to find new ways for the further development of the economy,” she said.

The government has adopted a plan of priority actions for which 93% of the regulatory legal framework for their implementation has already been adopted. 

“Decisions have been taken to stabilize the situation on the financial markets, including transitioning to settlements in roubles for Russian gas with unfriendly countries. Since March of this year, inspection procedures have been simplified, including in terms of security in the electric power industry and confirmation of readiness for work in the electric power and heat supply industry. In addition, the administrative burden on businesses has been significantly alleviated as part of amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences, and the dates for the entry into force of a number of mandatory requirements have been postponed,” she said.

More than 20 sectoral support measures have been implemented with the involvement of the Russian Ministry of Energy, and work to this end continues, Bondarenko said.

“The main ones include the right to establish specific terms for accruing, paying, and writing off fines for the failure to fulfil or the improper fulfilment of obligations to pay for resources, penalties against investors in the power generation and power grid sector have been postponed, the commissioning of individual facilities has been postponed, and pricing flexibility has been improved for the effective implementation of investment programmes,” she said.

For more about the REW 2022 business programme, please visit: rusenergyweek.com.