Moscow allows state companies to hide procurement data in order to frustrate U.S. sanctions

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a resolution allowing Russian state companies to wait until July 1, 2018, to publish procurement data on suppliers and subcontractors. Sources close to Rosneft and Roscosmos told the newspaper Vedomosti that state companies don’t want to disclose data about their contractors because it would reveal how they are circumventing Western sanctions, particularly when it comes to technologies that would be difficult to replace.

According to Georgy Sukhadolsky, a member of the federal government’s expert council, a significant number of the visitors to Russia’s procurement data website are foreign Internet users, who can view public information about state companies’ purchases, including the Defense Ministry’s procurement contracts.

Medvedev signed a separate order allowing the Defense Ministry, Federal Security Service, and Foreign Intelligence Service to conduct fully secret procurement purchases until July 1, 2018.

In October 2017, the Trump administration published a list of Russian-connected entities, saying it would impose sanctions on U.S. individuals and companies that did “significant” business with them. The list includes several suppliers and contractors for Russia’s Federal Security Service and Foreign Intelligence Service.