Clifford Chance

Russian companies are entitled to waive insolvency moratorium granted to them by the state

24 April 2020

 

As outlined in our previous briefing, amendments to the Russian Law on Insolvency (Bankruptcy) came into force on 1 April 2020 setting out the rules for the introduction of a moratorium by the Russian Government on the filing of creditors' petitions for insolvency of Russian companies (and excluding the obligation for a company to file for its own insolvency) (the "Moratorium Rules") and establishing restrictions on certain operations of the companies subject to the moratorium. On 6 April 2020 the Government determined the list of companies subject to the moratorium (by reference to particular business sectors mostly affected by Covid-19 and to lists of specifically named strategic companies and companies systemically important for the Russian economy) which will be subject to the moratorium as outlined in detail in our previous alerter.

On 24 April 2020 further amendments to the Moratorium Rules came into force (the "Clarifying Amendments") in an attempt to clarify the ambiguities with respect to the companies to which the moratorium (and the related restrictions) should apply and to exclude from the previously adopted rules the most controversial provisions affecting transactions of the companies during the moratorium.

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