The Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation came out with the initiative to establish in the country a program of “citizenship for investment” in the image of Cyprus and other European countries: foreigners will be given a residence permit in exchange for investing in the Russian economy.

The Ministry believes that the implementation of such a scheme will strengthen the Russian economy and create new jobs. It is assumed that foreigners will have to invest at least 10 million rubles (about 130 000 dollars) in the country. Participants of the program will be able to become residents of the Russian Federation, having fulfilled one of the five conditions that require significant investments in the Russian economy. Some of them imply mandatory employment of Russian citizens, while others have a minimum investment period of three years.

For foreigners, the main advantage of Russian residence permit will be relatively low taxes.