According to Kommersant, many Russian banks stopped working with SWIFT, and from February to July there were significant restrictions on the transfer of foreign currency payments. 

Now the amount of currency transfers is limited for individuals to 1 million US dollars, and it is possible to make transfers only for specific purposes. As a result, many entrepreneurs began to open companies in the CIS countries. 

“The most popular are Kazakhstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In these countries, you can open a business and continue settlements in foreign currency with foreign counterparties. Some entrepreneurs relocate their companies and employees, obtain residence permits in other countries and continue their work under other rules and laws. Someone believes that opening a business in another country is an opportunity to scale up, to probe new markets. Others use companies opened in other countries only as currency hubs,” Alps & Chase lawyer Natalia Salnikova said. 

According to her, if earlier banks in the CIS countries were happy to open accounts for almost any business remotely, now Kazakhstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have introduced stricter compliance: it is no longer possible to open accounts for a company without the arrival of the director, and you also need to describe in detail your business processes. 

“If an entrepreneur considers the country as a transit country for his business, without real activity on its territory, he will be denied opening a bank account,” the expert concluded.