At a recent Investment Bridges 2026 roundtable hosted by the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), industry experts gathered to discuss the practical obstacles facing Russian projects seeking to scale in friendly markets from 2026 to 2028. The discussion spanned a wide range of challenges, from legal architecture to the availability of venture capital.
In his presentation, ‘Homework before entering the international market,’ Artem Genkin, Chairman of the Venture Capital Commission under the RCCI’s Council for Financial Markets and Investments, noted that startups must now contend with an “era of fragmentation.” Local requirements for supply chains, licensing, and component sourcing are becoming increasingly stringent. Meanwhile, cross-border payments are no longer perceived as seamless, even between major currency zones.
The expert identified several key risk areas for expanding businesses: international compliance, the nuances of local advertising and regulatory environments (including restrictions on profitability and performance promises in sensitive industries), and the complexities of tax and accounting frameworks. He noted that in some markets, penalties for reporting errors and demands for source documents are far stricter than many founders anticipate.
The speaker also cited cases where poor choices in tax regime led to direct financial losses at the operational level.
According to Artem Genkin, as sanctions and regulatory pressures intensify, projects must proactively build a system of legal “hygiene” spanning everything from payment infrastructure to data protection procedures. The latter, he stressed, is especially critical for AI startups that train models on datasets with unclear legal status.