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2020-10-22

Russia: officials will have to declare their crypto assets

Russian government officials will be authorized to declare all private shares in crypto assets from New Year 2021 onwards.

These requirements were announced on October 20 by the office of Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, after a meeting with 15 colleagues of the General Prosecutors representing member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

In 2018, the Russian Ministry of Labor announced that state officials will not have to declare virtual assets in their tax reports due to unregulated crypto status. As a result, there were concerns that crypto assets may be the chosen financial instrument for bribery and corruption.

Over the past three years, the Attorney General's Office has claimed to have confiscated undisclosed, unencrypted assets worth over $440 million from public officials.

The new requirements result from new regulations, signed in July by President Vladimir Putin, which from 2021 will classify crypto assets as similar to physical goods - recognizing virtual currencies in the country for the first time.

In addition to the SCO member states - Russia, India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan - the meeting was also attended by the General Prosecutors of Afghanistan, Belarus, Mongolia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Armenia, who are non-members of the SCO and observer countries. The meeting focused on the topic of fighting corruption.