Russian officials ordered to divest from cryptocurrencies by 1 April

The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation issued an informational letter, in which it informed civil servants about the need to divest from cryptocurrency holdings by 1 April 2021.

“Officials are obliged to dispose of digital financial assets issued in information systems organised in accordance with foreign law, as well as digital currencies regardless of issuing country,” the letter says.

The letter also imposes a ban on government employees owning and using these kinds of assets. The list of people subject to these rules is set out in Federal Law No. 79-FZ of 7 May 2013.

“Officials who do not hold such posts may own cryptocurrency and must report it by 30 June,” explained GMT Legal managing partner Andrey Tugarin in a ForkLog comment.

As reported, on 10 December 2020, President Vladimir Putin signed decree, which obliges officials and candidates for relevant posts to declare information about cryptocurrencies and tokens owned by them, their spouses and minor children.

The first reporting deadline runs from 1 January to 30 June 2021.

Reports on transactions involving the acquisition of digital financial assets and digital currencies made in 2020 are not required.

A bill on taxation of cryptocurrency operations for citizens was submitted to the State Duma in early December 2020.

From 1 January, the Law on Digital Financial Assets came into force in Russia. It recognises cryptocurrencies as property and prohibits their use for payments for goods and services within the country.

Subscribe to ForkLog news on Telegram: ForkLog Feed — the full news feed, ForkLog — the most important news and polls.