Russian government aims to limit foreign ownership of tech

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 21 Oct 2019 by Alex Teddy
On 21 October the government outlined its proposals to restrict foreign ownership of the internet sector. Yandex and Mail.ru are two of the vital companies in this sector. The limit on foreign ownership will be 50% which is much higher than previously thought. The law must have clear criteria to define an internet resource as important enough to warrant being subject to this legislation.The Duma deputy who proposed the bill is Anton Gorelkin. He belongs to United Russia: the most vociferous pro-Putin party. He is glad that the government is behind him even though they have watered down the draft law. The law will surely pass the Duma. Yandex had been worried that unduly onerous legislation would mess up its shareholder structure. A week ago Yandex executive Elena Bunina said that the goal of the law is increasing state control of the economy and not about protecting national interests as some claim. The government has been unsure now how to regulate the internet sphere. If the law makes the Russian internet sector less profitable then investors will desert it in droves. Russia's best IT engineers will head to foreign companies.

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