Putin's new brainwave: De-Offshorization

The sanctions imposed on Russian billionaires  was probably something Putin was expecting so he could entice or arm-twist Russians and Russian companies keeping their wealth in tax havens abroad to desist from doing so and instead let Mother Russia have her due from her Russian sons. Is it any wonder that Russians are good at chess.  

Moreover, one of the Russian banks on whom the West levied sanctions, is likely to gain more clients and become more successful now that Putin has opened an account there in support and instructed that his salary be transferred from now on to the new account.

The West is playing a childish and dangerous game. Next you will learn that Russia is vetoing all the sanctions they had agreed to levy on Iran, in retaliation for the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West.  We are in a Cold War now .... started by the West.

Putin's new initiative might make many of the Russian billionaires seek  citizenship in other countries, which is definitely what the countries levying sanctions wanted in the first place .... but won't it be risky for those countries to accept Russian applicants who will migrate only because they want to hold on to their wealth while still keeping their hearts in Russia and hoping for Putin's downfall so they can return there to become "puppets" of the West in the whatever kind of new govt. the West is envisioning for Russia?  

From YahooFinance:
 .....Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling on his country's billionaires to pay taxes in Russia, amid threats of economic sanctions from the U.S. and the European Union.
At a meeting Thursday with Russia's richest men in Moscow, Putin said Russian companies "ought to register on Russian territory and pay taxes in our motherland."
"I know that you are also interested in this. That is why we have set the task of de-offshorization in this part of the economy."........



And, if you want to know more on the issue:

From TheRussianCorporateWorld:
...In Russia and across the world,  2013 has become a year of de-offshorization. The experts at the event, both from the business and political aisles, see Cyprus as the first victim of the fast-increasing de-offshorization trends. The key speakers reviewed the trends in Q1’2013, shared their views and exchanged opinions about different offshore havens and their expectations from market players, taxation officials and other industry regulators.....

.....Addressing the meeting, Russian Federal Taxation Service (RTS) Deputy Director Alexei Overchuk noted that deoffshorization of economy is a global trend. “In 2012 such large global companies as Google and Amazon made profits of about GBP7.6bln in the UK, but did not pay a penny in taxes in the country. Also, between 2008 and 2011, US’ Top 10 largest companies had siphoned over $1.5trln off into different offshore havens across the globe, he added. 

Another negative trend, according to Overchuk, is that while tax burden increases, the largest corporate giants usually do not pay more in taxes, as expected. On the contrary, it is the relatively smaller and mid-cap entities and individuals that usually bear the lion’s share of taxation increments.....

.....“In the next three-five years, most offshore jurisdictions will come under the automatic information exchange policy,” Gagarin forecast. “However, for Russia, whose largest businesses are sheltered in offshore havens, this does not mean an automatic return of capital to the country. For that to happen, there needs to be a system that will guarantee property protection, seek law improvement and decrease tax burden.” .....

And, lots more info on Russia and de-offshorization 
here.