The day before, an extended meeting of employers in the Arctic and northern territories was held in Norilsk, in which about 50 representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, local governments and social activists from Norilsk and Taimyr took part.
The event was timed, among other things, to coincide with a recent anniversary: the northern territorial association of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) turned 20 years old.
The meeting opened with an address from RSPP President Alexander Shokhin, who has headed the Union for more than two decades:
“The territorial association of employers of the northern and arctic territories of the Krasnoyarsk Territory is one of the few in the RUIE that is known far beyond the region. Thanks to you, the Arctic topic is heard at the federal level. And, of course, the development of the Arctic territories is one of the key areas of work of the Coordination Council of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in the Siberian Federal District. In order to strengthen our position in work at the federal level, we decided to appoint Norilsk residents as leaders of the Coord Council. I think this will give additional impetus to promote our agenda not only in the federal district, but also in Russia as a whole,” Shokhin noted in his speech.
The extended meeting was attended by Executive Director of the Coordination Council of the RSPP in the Siberian Federal District Andrei Grachev, Vice-President of the RSPP Sergei Mytenkov, Member of the Board of the SPP of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Pestryakov, Director of the ANO Norilsk Development Agency Maxim Mironov, Chairman of the Union of Northern Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexey Lupka and Director of the Norilsk Department of Consumer Market and Services Elena Medvedyuk.
During the meeting, participants discussed both the existing difficulties of northern business communities and possible ways to solve them with the assistance of the RSPP. One of the most pressing problems is the changes made to tax legislation regarding the simplified taxation system (STS). Federal standards do not take into account the peculiarities of the Arctic territories, Andrei Grachev noted in his report. A sixfold reduction in income limits (from 60 to 10 million rubles) for the possibility of VAT exemption when applying the simplified tax system will inevitably have a negative impact on SMEs and the investment attractiveness of the territories and will ultimately lead to a serious increase in prices for consumers.
“Understanding the consequences of such changes in tax legislation, in 2025 we approached the relevant departments with proposals to introduce a transition period for the Arctic territories. This is currently all being worked out, and we hope that the appropriate changes will be made. There is already a positive example in this area. By order of the President of the Russian Federation, northern allowances and regional coefficients received in the regions of the Far North and equivalent areas are not taken into account in the progressive five-step personal income tax scale. A separate two-stage taxation scale is provided for northern allowances and regional coefficients,” said Andrey Grachev.
Alexander Pestryakov spoke in his report about the planned introduction of a single preferential regime for the Arctic and Far Eastern territories from January 1, 2027. This set of measures implies simplification of the use of support tools for investors and at the same time the possibility of choosing benefits depending on the specifics of the project:
“There are also restrictions in the single preregime – it will not apply to investment projects in the field of oil and gas production, as well as to excise and financial activities. At the same time, thanks to digitalization, many procedures can become automatic: starting from obtaining the status of an Arctic resident and including monitoring that excludes the abuse of benefits,” Pestryakov explained.
Among the supposed “new features” of the single preferential regime: automatic tax breaks; no income tax for 5 years; preferential rates of property tax and land tax; reduced insurance premiums if employee salaries are higher than the industry average in the region; provision of land plots without bidding; free customs zone regime; simplified control procedure, etc.
In general, a single pre-regime will speed up decision-making, increase the profitability of projects and stimulate the development of key industries, and help attract additional investments, including from Asian countries. Currently, all the details of the unified regime are being clarified and being worked out with all interested parties, including the structures of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Pestryakov added.
“All the problems that were discussed today are quite specific, but typical for all Arctic territories. At the same time, Norilsk is one of the unique cities where the city-forming enterprise has done a lot for the development of small and medium-sized businesses. This is, among other things, the great merit of one of the representatives of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Andrey Grachev. In general, the Union is not only about large companies, but also about SMEs. We are interested in small businesses becoming medium-sized, and medium-sized businesses becoming large. We want to “grow” our contractors, expand cooperation ties, and our task as the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs is to help businesses develop. I am confident that the presence of Norilsk residents on the board of the Union will significantly strengthen our work,” said Sergei Mytenkov, vice-president of the RSPP.
Another topic that received special attention at the meeting was the development of human resources in the Russian Arctic. “The future of Russia lies in the development of the Arctic. This is emphasized by the President of our country, Vladimir Putin. Those who work and live here in the North, like no one else, see enormous prospects for the further development of the territories. And they know what problems complicate moving forward. Among the most acute is the shortage of personnel. It is necessary to create conditions for attracting talented, motivated, responsible specialists. And at the same time, to retain and consolidate those who have already chosen the North as the place of their professional self-realization,” said Andrei Grachev.
Speaking about the importance of training young people to work at enterprises in the Russian Arctic, Andrei Grachev noted that it is necessary to increase intermunicipal cooperation between colleges of the Arctic and northern territories and employing organizations.
“One of the options for solving this problem is participation in the federal project “Professionalism,” which is being implemented within the framework of the national project “Youth and Children.” In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, six educational and production clusters have already been created in the most popular sectors of the region’s economy: agriculture, two fuel and energy, metallurgical, transport and logistics and railway. The advantage of this educational model is that young people will master a profession and receive a guaranteed job. Potential employers are actively involved in the development of educational programs and practical training for students. The successful experience of implementing the federal project became the impetus for the development of the regional program “Professionalism for All”. It was created on behalf of the Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Last year, seven clusters were organized as part of this project. Mikhail Kotyukov gave instructions: by 2030, to include all regional colleges and technical schools in “Professionalism for All”. Each educational institution must radically update educational programs and material and technical base together with partners – the main customers of personnel. This approach will make it possible to provide key sectors of the economy with qualified workers,” Andrey Grachev emphasized.
During the discussion of the reports at the extended meeting, representatives of the business community were recommended to send their proposals to the RSPP to improve the efficiency of interaction between government bodies at all levels and the business community. All received documents will be analyzed and, if necessary, sent for processing to federal executive authorities.
“I see the primary task of the RSPP Coordination Council for the Siberian Federal District to conduct an in-depth analysis of existing problems in the development of the business community. It's essentially taking stock of all the challenges a business faces locally and ranking them in order of importance. I think that by May-June we will have a complete picture of what entrepreneurs face, understand what is preventing them from developing and strengthening the economic potential of the territories. This will become the basis for our further work with federal and regional executive authorities in terms of adjusting relevant laws. So that laws create favorable conditions for business development, and not vice versa,” Andrey Grachev summed up the last meeting.
Currently, 6,217 small and medium-sized businesses (1,426 legal entities, 4,791 individual entrepreneurs) operate in Norilsk. The total number of people employed in the small and medium-sized enterprise sector, excluding individual entrepreneurs and citizens working for them, is 7,334 people.
The small business sector of Norilsk is concentrated mainly in the consumer market: trade and public catering – 46.5%. In addition, SMEs provide transport services (23%); services in the field of production (11.7%); other services (6.8%); household services (6.9%); real estate transactions (3%); services in the production sector (2.1%).
There are 37 residents of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation registered in the city, operating in the fields of tourism, mining, production of building materials, disposal of municipal solid waste, and trade.
In total, 42 residents of the Russian Arctic are registered in Taimyr, including Norilsk, Dudinka, Evenki district and the village of Tura. The total volume of investments in the supported projects is declared at about 4.8 billion rubles, the planned number of new jobs is 750 people, the total volume of tax deductions for the period of implementation of the projects will be about 9.8 billion rubles.
