MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday denounced companies with offshore jurisdiction and ordered the government to end the "offshore-isation" of the Russian economy.
"The offshore character of the Russian economy has become legend," Putin said in his annual state of the nation address.
"Nine out of 10 agreements made by big Russian companies, including companies with state capital, are not regulated by Russian laws."
"We need a whole system of measures to deoffshore-ise Russia's economy," he said, ordering the government to look into the issue.
"We need to strive for transparency of the offshores, for making tax information open," Putin said, adding that Russian laws should be made more friendly to businessmen.
"The best way to make business patriotic is to provide effective guarantees of private property, making Russian jurisdiction attractive," he said.
Some of largest companies in Russia in key sectors of the economy are registered far beyond its borders in places like Cyprus, allowing them to keep much of what they would pay in taxes as profit.
When metals giant Rusal made their documents public before attaining its Hong Kong listing in 2010, Russian media found out that its Jersey registration allows it to keep 90 percent of its profits.
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