Lawyer, Family Office
Russia keeps a public register of the jurisdictions it treats as hostile, and membership of that register carries concrete legal effects for anyone doing cross-border business with the country. For a family office that still holds Russian assets, or a foreign investor trying to unwind a Russian position, the label attached to a counterparty's home jurisdiction now decides which payments clear, which deals need state approval, and how much value survives an exit.
Two different lists travel under the word "unfriendly", and they are easy to confuse. The older one, in place since May 2021, only caps how many local staff a foreign embassy may employ in Russia. The list that matters for money is newer: the register of unfriendly states and territories approved on 5 March 2022, which is wired directly into Russia's currency, investment and tax counter-measures.
Where the list comes from
The economic list sits in Government Order No. 430-r of 5 March 2022, adopted to give effect to Presidential Decree No. 95 of the same day on the temporary procedure for paying certain foreign creditors. It has been widened several times since. Order No. 2018-r added the Bahamas and the British Crown Dependencies in July 2022, Order No. 3216-r brought in the remaining British Overseas Territories that October, and Hungary was added in 2023. The register now covers all 27 European Union members, every G7 state and a long tail of territories; Turkey is the only NATO country left off.
The roster below reproduces the designated states and should be read against the live text of Order No. 430-r, since the government amends it by simple order and compiled copies date quickly. The entry shown as the "Republic of China" stands for Taiwan, and the European Union appears both as a bloc and through its individually named members.
Non-friendly countries
- Australia
- Albania
- Andorra
- Bahamas
- British Overseas Territories
- United Kingdom
- European Union
- Iceland
- Canada
- Liechtenstein
- Micronesia
- Monaco
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Republic of Korea
- San Marino
- North Macedonia
- Singapore
- United States of America
- Republic of China
- Ukraine
- Montenegro
- Switzerland
- Japan
Friendly countries
- Azerbaijan
- Armenia
- Belarus
- Kyrgyzstan
- Kazakhstan
- Tajikistan
- Turkmenistan
- Uzbekistan
- Algeria
- Bangladesh
- Bahrain
- Brazil
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- Hong Kong
- Egypt
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Qatar
- China
- Cuba
- Malaysia
- Morocco
- Mongolia
- United Arab Emirates
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia
- Thailand
- Turkey
- South Africa
What the designation actually triggers
Designation works through specific restrictions that switch on whenever a person or company tied to a listed jurisdiction touches the Russian economy. Three of them matter most for private wealth.
The first is the type-C account. Under Decree No. 95, money owed to creditors from unfriendly states — coupons, dividends, repayment of principal — is paid not to the creditor but into a restricted rouble account at a Russian bank. The funds formally belong to the creditor yet cannot leave Russia without separate permission, which turns a hard-currency claim into frozen roubles.
The second is prior approval. The Government Commission on Control over Foreign Investment must clear most transactions in which the counterparty comes from an unfriendly state, and the terms it sets have hardened. Since October 2024 a foreign owner selling a Russian business has to accept a mandatory discount of at least 60% to appraised value and pay a "voluntary contribution" to the federal budget of 35% of that value, settled in instalments over two years; deals above 50 billion roubles also need the president's personal sign-off. Once the discount and the contribution are taken out, a departing seller typically keeps around 5% of what the asset is said to be worth.
The third is the loss of treaty protection. By Decree No. 585 of August 2023 Russia suspended the operative clauses of its double-tax treaties with unfriendly states, so domestic withholding — 15% on dividends, 20% on interest and royalties — now applies where a reduced treaty rate used to. Currency-control duties also weigh more heavily on residents who keep accounts or route funds through listed jurisdictions, which we cover in Russian currency residency and foreign-account reporting.
The wider toolkit
Finance is only part of the regime. The same designation drives retaliatory import tariffs of 35% and above on a range of goods from listed territories, the suspension of visa-facilitation arrangements with the European Union and several neighbours, and a rule under Decree No. 299 that lets Russian users pay nothing to patent holders from unfriendly states. None of this is settled: the government keeps adding both measures and jurisdictions by order, so a structure that was compliant a year ago can find itself on the wrong side of a new instrument.
"Friendly" is a residual category
There is no official "friendly countries" list to set against the unfriendly one. A jurisdiction counts as friendly only because it has not been designated, and the second roster on this page is an informal compilation rather than a legal instrument. The distinction still carries weight — the Bank of Russia uses it to decide which non-residents may trade or hold securities with fewer restrictions, and several clearing and currency rules turn on it — but the boundary is drawn by exclusion from Order No. 430-r, not by any positive enumeration. Any circulating "friendly" list, including the one above, is best treated as a convenience to be checked against current regulation.