Russia

Since

Sep 1, 2026

Category

Real asset restrictions

Severity

2 of 3

Adds 2.1 points to the index

Federal Law No. 282-FZ of 4 August 2026 on digital currencies and digital rights, in force from 1 September 2026, prohibits accepting digital currencies and digital rights as payment for goods, work or services in Russia unless the law provides otherwise, and bans advertising their use as payment. Exceptions include payments under foreign-trade contracts between residents and non-residents.

Why it counts: Keeping crypto out of domestic payments stops it from serving as a parallel currency to the rouble while still letting the state use it to settle sanctioned foreign trade.

Since

Jul 1, 2026

Category

Capital controls

Severity

1 of 3

Adds 1.3 points to the index

Residents need an individual Bank of Russia permit to pay for shares, contributions or units in the property of a non-resident legal entity when the payments to that entity, counted since 1 April 2024, exceed 30 million roubles; the threshold was raised from 15 million roubles from 1 July 2026. The same applies to contributions to non-residents under simple partnership agreements.

Why it counts: A permit requirement on outward direct investment slows and screens the movement of domestic savings and corporate capital into foreign assets.

Since

May 1, 2026

Category

Real asset restrictions

Severity

1 of 3

Adds 0.9 points to the index

Since 1 May 2026 individuals, companies and sole traders may not take refined gold bars weighing more than 100 grams in total out of Russia. Exports to EAEU states, and individuals' exports to other countries, are allowed only through four airports (Moscow Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vladivostok Knevichi) with a permit from the Federal Assay Chamber; exports by companies and sole traders to non-EAEU states are exempt, as are credit institutions.

Why it counts: Physical gold, a main inflation and sanctions hedge for Russian savers, can be bought at home but not freely carried abroad, so it cannot serve as an exit route for savings.

Since

Apr 1, 2026

Category

Capital controls

Severity

1 of 3

Adds 1.3 points to the index

From 1 April 2026 individuals could not take rouble cash worth more than the equivalent of USD 100,000 to EAEU member states. Decree No. 706 of 29 September 2026, in force on signing, replaced this with a ban on individuals taking more than 1 million roubles in cash, and companies any amount, to EAEU states, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, except through designated airports with bank statements proving withdrawal from an account; cash above the limit is seized.

Why it counts: Closing the land route for carrying rouble cash to neighbouring countries, where it can be converted into foreign currency, blocks an informal channel for moving savings out of Russia.

Since

Aug 2025

Category

Prudential sovereign bias

Severity

2 of 3

Adds 4.0 points to the index

Bank of Russia Instruction No. 220-I on mandatory ratios of banks with a universal licence weights at 0% rouble-denominated and rouble-funded claims on the Russian Federation, federal executive bodies and the Bank of Russia, and the part of claims secured by rouble state guarantees or by a pledge of rouble government debt securities (at 80% of fair value).

Why it counts: Banks can hold federal government bonds (OFZ) and lend to the state without a credit-risk capital charge, making government paper cheaper to hold than private lending.

Since

Aug 2025

Category

Directed credit

Severity

2 of 3

Adds 3.0 points to the index

Banks that meet buffer and soundness conditions may apply a downward adjustment to credit and market risk on rouble loans and bonds financing 'technological sovereignty' and 'structural adaptation' projects listed under Government Resolution No. 603 of 15 April 2023, and on sustainable-development projects. Loans to projects in the investment phase under the VEB.RF 'project finance' mechanism are weighted at 100% instead of the 130% that applies to other investment-phase project finance, a rule that applies until 31 December 2028.

Why it counts: Lower capital charges make it cheaper for banks to fund projects the government has selected, steering credit toward state priorities rather than market-chosen borrowers.

Since

Jan 1, 2025

Category

Capital controls

Severity

2 of 3

Adds 3.1 points to the index

Since 1 January 2025 foreign securities may be bought only by qualified investors, except securities of issuers from Eurasian Economic Union countries and international financial organisations that are held only in Russian or EAEU infrastructure; deliverable derivatives on restricted foreign assets are also reserved for qualified investors. Non-qualified investors may keep or sell what they already hold. The rule, first set by Bank of Russia Ordinance 6885-U, is now in Ordinance 7250-U of 27 November 2025, in force since 30 May 2026.

Why it counts: Most retail savers lose the option of diversifying into foreign shares and bonds through Russian brokers, which keeps their investable savings in rouble assets, including government bonds.

Since

Jan 1, 2024

Category

Tax incentives

Severity

1 of 3

Adds 1.4 points to the index

Article 219.2 of the Tax Code, added by Federal Law No. 58-FZ of 23 March 2024, gives a personal income tax deduction for contributions to type-III individual investment accounts (IIS) opened from 1 January 2024, to the state-co-financed Long-Term Savings Programme and to non-state pension contracts, up to 400,000 roubles a year in total; Federal Law No. 418-FZ of 17 November 2025 added long-term life insurance and lets the cap rise to 500,000 roubles where the excess is contributions for the taxpayer's children. Investment gains on an IIS-3 are also deductible once the account has run for the statutory minimum term, and early termination claws back the relief.

Why it counts: Tax relief and state co-financing reward savers for locking money for ten years or more in accounts with Russian brokers and pension funds, keeping it inside the domestic financial system that also finances the state.

Since

Mar 5, 2022

Category

Capital controls

Severity

2 of 3

Adds 3.1 points to the index

Payments by Russian debtors above 10 million roubles a month to creditors from unfriendly states go into blocked rouble 'type C' accounts whose regime is set by the Bank of Russia. Legal entities and non-working individuals from unfriendly states may not transfer funds abroad, and those working in Russia only up to their salary; the Bank of Russia has kept these limits until 7 December 2026, and transfers from brokerage and trust-management accounts stay suspended for another six months from 1 October 2026.

Why it counts: Foreign holders of Russian assets cannot freely repatriate income or sale proceeds, so their money stays locked in roubles inside the Russian financial system.

Since

Mar 2, 2022

Category

Capital controls

Severity

2 of 3

Adds 3.1 points to the index

Individuals whose foreign-currency account or deposit was opened before 9 March 2022 may withdraw foreign cash only up to the balance on that date and at most USD 10,000 (or the euro equivalent), once; other funds are paid out in roubles. The Bank of Russia has kept this restriction until 9 March 2027. Separately, residents and non-residents may not take more than the equivalent of USD 10,000 in foreign-currency cash out of Russia.

Why it counts: Savers cannot turn foreign-currency deposits into physical dollars or euros or carry larger amounts abroad, so FX savings stay as claims on Russian banks and are often converted into roubles at payout.

Since

2018

Category

Directed credit

Severity

2 of 3

Adds 3.0 points to the index

The state compensates banks so that families with children can borrow for housing at fixed preferential rates; the programme runs until 31 December 2030. For new contracts from 1 October 2026 the rate depends on the number of children and region, from 2% to 10% outside the four capital regions and from 4% to 12% in Moscow, St Petersburg and their regions, with loan caps of 6 to 18 million roubles and subsidy for at most 15 years; loans to build a private house stay at 6%.

Why it counts: Budget-funded interest subsidies channel a large share of bank credit into state-chosen housing lending at administered rates far below the key rate, distorting credit allocation and binding banks' funding to a fiscal programme.

Since

Sep 11, 2026

Category

Real asset restrictions

Severity

2 of 3

Counts in the outlook only: adds 1.6 points once it applies

Federal Law No. 282-FZ lets a broker buy crypto for a non-qualified resident only after a passed test (for individuals), a risk notice, within an annual amount set by the Bank of Russia, and only for crypto admitted to public trading on an organised exchange. Bank of Russia Ordinance No. 7441-U of 11 September 2026 sets that limit at 300,000 roubles a year per intermediary and admits Bitcoin, Ether and Tether USDT to public trading; it takes effect 10 days after official publication, and as of October 2026 it was still awaiting registration with the Ministry of Justice.

Why it counts: A hard rouble cap on retail crypto purchases limits how much household saving can move into crypto, including dollar stablecoins, as a hedge against rouble inflation.

Since

Aug 4, 2026

Category

Capital controls

Severity

3 of 3

Counts in the outlook only: adds 4.8 points once it applies

Under Federal Law No. 282-FZ, residents that are not themselves crypto intermediaries may buy, sell or exchange crypto only through or with Russian-registered intermediaries (brokers, exchangers, digital depositories), with exceptions such as foreign-trade payments and mining; this rule (Article 30(1)), and Article 21 on restricting payments to illegally organised crypto platforms, apply from 1 July 2027. A digital depository may let a resident move crypto to an address no depository administers only in listed cases, for an individual only after a risk notice and a passed test, and then only to an address administered by an authorised foreign organisation unless the Bank of Russia provides otherwise.

Why it counts: Funnelling all crypto activity through Bank-of-Russia-registered intermediaries and restricting moves to self-custody closes crypto as an unmonitored route out of the rouble and the capital controls.

Since

Oct 2023

Category

Capital controls

Severity

2 of 3

Not counted in the index

A presidential decree of October 2023 required the largest exporters in energy, metals, chemicals, timber and grain to repatriate and sell part of their foreign-currency proceeds on the domestic market; the last parameters were at least 40% credited to accounts with authorised banks and at least 90% of that sold. Government Resolution No. 1210 of 14 August 2025 cut the required repatriation and sale to zero, and the extension in Resolution No. 698 ran only until 30 April 2026. In June 2026 the Finance Minister said an extension to 2029 had been prepared, but no signed act extending or reactivating the requirement has been published.

Why it counts: Forcing exporters to sell foreign currency at home supported the rouble and kept export earnings inside the Russian financial system instead of abroad; the mechanism remains a standby tool that the government can reactivate.

Since

Mar 2022

Category

Capital controls

Severity

2 of 3

Not counted in the index

From March 2022 the Bank of Russia capped how much Russian citizens and individuals from friendly states could send to foreign bank accounts; by 2025 the cap was USD 1 million a month, plus USD 10,000 a month through money-transfer systems. The Bank of Russia lifted these limits from 8 December 2025, citing the stable situation on the currency market.

Why it counts: The caps kept household savings in the domestic banking system and stopped large-scale flight into foreign accounts; their removal shows the control was used as a crisis tool that can be reinstated by a Bank of Russia decision.