After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, popular Western brands left the Russian market en masse - some because of sanctions, but most of their own initiative. In the name of avoiding the deficit, the authorities legalized parallel imports: they allowed the import of products of the withdrawn Western brands without their consent.
To organize deliveries through third countries and solve the problem with payments, businesses had to look for workarounds - not always completely legal even from the point of view of Russian legislation. For example, despite the de facto ban, the active use of cryptocurrencies began. The authorities decided to turn a blind eye to this.
"It must be said that business is very flexible. There are different ways in which they solve the problem and they don't even share them with us. "It is probably right that they do not do it," commented the head of the Russian Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina.
However, the easing of regulation has contributed to the growth of gray imports. This is the name for the import of goods in which customs rules are circumvented - the duties and taxes due are not paid in full. In essence, approximately the same schemes are used that were popular in the 1990s, when the market economy in Russia was just forming and state institutions were weak.
How gray imports work
The scheme for deliveries from China, called "cargo", has become widespread, one of the participants in foreign economic activity told "Expert" magazine. Chinese suppliers are paid in cash or cryptocurrency. Then the goods, loaded into wagons or trucks, set off on a journey that leads, for example, through Kazakhstan. Everything is formatted as "personal shipments" or "non-commercial consignments".
Another common practice is the manipulation of customs documentation: goods are declared for which lower duties are due, and others are imported for which the rates are higher.
The main channels for selling goods imported under gray schemes are the largest online markets, primarily Wildberries and Ozon, as well as offline markets such as the Moscow "Sadovod". This is another similarity to the 1990s.
The co-owner of the DNS electronics and home appliance chain, Dmitry Alekseev, has been criticizing online platforms for several years for creating conditions for "smuggling". According to his observations, this is most often done by sole traders who are subject to a simplified tax regime.
"These sole traders do not pay VAT, do not submit accounting documentation for purchases and sales. From there, the tax service cannot trace the chain of movement of goods, which means that goods that have passed customs can easily be sold," the businessman wrote in Telegram.
What is the scale of gray imports in Russia
According to the Federal Customs Service, in 2025, about 8,500 trucks were detained trying to import 130,000 tons of goods in violation of customs rules. This is probably only a part of the entire flow, since an average of between 60 and 70,000 trucks enter Russia every month.
Expert estimates give only an approximate idea. Market participants surveyed by the Kommersant newspaper believe that gray schemes account for 10-20 percent of imports from China, i.e. no less than $10 billion per year (almost one trillion rubles).
The Russian authorities know what the effect of eradicating gray imports would be: legalizing trade should bring the federal budget 500 billion rubles in 2026 and 2027, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.
How the authorities will fight gray imports
According to the government's plans, a key measure in the fight against gray imports should be the introduction of a system for confirming expected deliveries of goods (SPOT). It should initially come into effect in a test mode for three months, and from July 1 it should already function normally. The system provides for the following: importers of goods from the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union will have to declare deliveries in advance, including indicating the final recipients, and will have to pay VAT and customs duties in advance.
In addition, starting this year, the profit threshold allowing entrepreneurs to avoid paying VAT was significantly reduced in Russia - from 60 to 20 million rubles per year. Thus, even small sellers of Wildberries and Ozon will now have to charge VAT.
Increased transparency should significantly complicate gray imports, including under the "cargo" scheme. Anton Siluanov expects that the introduction of SPOT alone will provide the Russian budget with an additional 300 billion rubles per year.
How far can the fight against gray imports lead?
However, even those market participants who advocate legalizing trade are not very optimistic. For example, co-owner of the DNS chain Dmitry Alekseev fears that "turnover will move from the gray to the black sector: roughly speaking - from online stores to platforms like "Avito" (the largest Russian free classifieds site - ed.) or to specialized channels in Telegram.
"Formally, the goal is transparency, but in reality a filter is being created through which only large suppliers will pass, while the rest will be overwhelmed with documents, guarantees and advance payments", warns Alekseev. According to him, "about 30 percent of participants working online will withdraw from trade".
As a result, the fight against gray imports may not meet the expectations of the authorities, but it will probably affect the pockets of consumers.
The measure is unlikely to completely eradicate the gray import sector, but entrepreneurs will be forced to include in prices the increased costs of circumventing regulations and higher risks. Experts surveyed by "Kommersant" believe that legalizing trade will lead to an increase in the prices of imported goods by an average of between 10 and 20 percent.
Author: Oleg Loginov