02.03.2022
13:05

Wartime investments

Egor Noskov, Managing Partner of Duvernoix Legal Law Firm:

— Those Russians who do not see their life abroad under any circumstances, in my opinion, shall not do anything with assets, because they are in the ruble zone, their income and expenses are in rubles. It is more difficult for those who consider themselves a citizen of the world and who are considering going abroad or are already actually living in two countries, as a lot of large St. Petersburg entrepreneurs do. The trend of the country's politics was clear to businessmen a few years ago. And for this reason, I think, many of them have acquired a safety cushion in the form of foreign real estate, funds and business projects. In my opinion, now is the moment when there is no need to do anything urgent.

When I think about how the domestic market situation and the value of assets are changing in Russia, I involuntarily think about the building where our St. Petersburg office is located: Nevsky Prospekt, 140. This building was built at the beginning of the XX century, it survived the revolution, the blockade, and the 90s, when there were not enough funds. It has been standing for more than 120 years in the same place. If you live and work in St. Petersburg, it does not matter how much this real estate costs in real time, if you do not sell it. This building cost a lot of money at the beginning of the XX century. In 1914, when the First World War began, it obviously fell in price a lot. After 1917, it didn't cost anything. After 1991, it again had a value, which peaked by 2008, having decreased by 3 times by 2022. It seems to me that this is the way to treat Russian assets. If you don't sell them, then nothing terrible happens. The main thing is not to wait for anything like 1914 to happen.

I do not see any prerequisites for the termination of the Russian banking system. I think, everything concerning ruble transactions will not change. Russia is a country with very large financial reserves, the state is very rich. Unfortunately, with a poor population. But now nothing portends its total impoverishment. I believe that the income level of the poorest segments of the population will not fall below that which allows satisfying the most basic human needs.

As for the ratio of the ruble and foreign currencies, it is obvious that there are no prerequisites for a significant improvement yet, since the state itself is not interested in a strong strengthening of the ruble. There may be difficulties with currency exchange, the exchange rate may not be comparable, even with the current ones. And yet, I think there will be no internal economic catastrophe. The policy of our state has been very consistent in recent years. It could have been calculated long ago, like the flight of a comet. It was obvious to cogitative people that if a comet at a given speed and direction turned out to be at point A, then it would quite naturally and unambiguously end up at point B at some time.

next A number of important bills were considered at the February sessions of the State Duma