State-owned companies will not penalize contractors for missed deadlines due to sanctions

The government instructed state-owned companies in 2022 not to penalize suppliers in case of violation of obligations under contracts, if these violations were made due to sanctions. On March 6, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov signed relevant directives to members of the boards of directors representing Russia's interests in state-owned companies.

RBC has a copy of the document. This was confirmed by a representative of the Belousov apparatus and the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development.

The directives concern the largest state-owned companies from a special list approved by government decree No. 91-r dated January 23, 2003. Now the list includes 39 companies, including Aeroflot, ALROSA, VTB, Russian Railways, Rosneft, Gazprom, Dom.RF, Russian Post. RBC sent requests to these companies. According to RBC's interlocutor in the government, the expansion of the new norm to all state-owned companies is now being discussed.

According to Belousov’s instructions, state representatives must convene boards of directors within ten days from the date of their receipt and vote for the fact that in 2022 a supplier or contractor under a state contract should not have to pay fines if it violates obligations in connection with the introduction of restrictive measures against Russia from by "unfriendly foreign states". They will also have to vote for the possibility of extending the deadlines for the execution of contracts and adjusting the prices of government contracts in 2022 if, due to sanctions, “circumstances beyond the control of the parties to the contract have arisen that make it impossible to fulfill it without changing the conditions.”

On Friday, March 11, Alexander Isaevich, CEO of the SME corporation, held a meeting with the largest customers, and they confirmed that they would change the terms of the contracts in accordance with the government's directive, RBC was told in the corporation's press service. The SME Corporation will monitor the implementation of the SME Directive.

The government also issued a ruling that customers would write off the penalties incurred due to Western sanctions. But this measure does not apply to contracts of state-owned companies, but only to state and municipal budgetary institutions, that is, directly to government bodies. It is impossible to determine the amount of future penalties in advance, they say in the press service of the Ministry of Finance. Because of the sanctions, suppliers have difficulties with the execution of contracts on previously agreed terms, including in terms of the range of goods supplied, their prices and deadlines for fulfilling obligations, the department notes. Earlier, the Ministry of Finance explained that the same rules for writing off penalties were applied in 2020 to contracts not executed due to the spread of the coronavirus.

After the recognition of the independence of the DPR and LPR and the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, Western countries imposed sanctions against Russia, in particular, they banned the flights of aircraft of Russian companies, limited exports, banned the import of cash euros and dollars, and included dozens of businessmen and officials in the sanctions lists. According to Bloomberg estimates, the Russian Federation came out on top in terms of the number of sanctions imposed against it. The restrictions also cut Russia off from access to nearly half of its gold and foreign exchange reserves, or about $300 billion, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Sunday, March 13.