Western due-diligence providers that used to cover Russian entities have largely withdrawn or scaled back, right as compliance teams still need to verify a Russian counterparty, supplier or beneficial owner before signing a contract, onboarding a client, or clearing a payment. Public Russian corporate data exists — in EGRUL, court dockets, bankruptcy filings and encumbrance registers — but reading it correctly requires access to the registers themselves and familiarity with how Russian entities structure ownership. We run these checks from Moscow and deliver findings your team can act on.
What we do
- Verify a Russian company against EGRUL: confirming a company’s registration status, registered address, directors, and beneficial ownership as recorded in the Russian unified state register of legal entities.
- Court and bankruptcy record checks: screening the counterparty and its known beneficiaries against Russian court dockets and bankruptcy filings for pending litigation, insolvency proceedings or enforcement actions.
- Encumbrance and asset checks: checking whether known assets are pledged, seized or otherwise encumbered where relevant to the transaction.
- Sanctions and KYC screening: screening the Russian counterparty and its beneficial owners against applicable sanctions lists as part of standard KYC for a Russian counterparty.
- Background check on individuals: a background check on Russian directors, beneficial owners or signatories using public and official Russian sources.
- Findings report in English: a structured report summarising what was checked, what was found, and any red flags, written for a compliance or legal audience abroad.
How it works
- You send us the company name, registration number if known, and the individuals to be checked.
- We run the checks against EGRUL, court dockets, bankruptcy filings, encumbrance registers and applicable sanctions lists.
- We compile the findings into an English-language report with a clear summary and any red flags highlighted.
- We answer follow-up questions on the findings and can re-check on a periodic basis for ongoing counterparties.
What we don’t do
We rely on official Russian registers, court records and open sources — we do not use closed law enforcement databases or unofficial contacts to obtain information, and we say so plainly in every report so you know exactly what the findings are based on. A due diligence report describes what the public record shows; it is not a guarantee about a counterparty’s future conduct.
Who this is for
- Compliance teams at banks, payment services and trading platforms that need to verify a Russian company before onboarding it as a client or counterparty;
- Legal and procurement teams assessing a Russian supplier, distributor or joint venture partner;
- Investors and acquirers who need background on a Russian target company or its beneficial owners.
If the issue is instead a court claim already filed against your company in Russia, see Russia litigation watch.
FAQ
How do you verify a Russian company against EGRUL?
We pull the current extract from the register directly and check it against the details you have on file — registered address, directors, beneficial ownership and registration status — flagging any mismatch.
Can you identify the real beneficial owner behind a Russian company with nominee directors?
In many cases yes, using registry filings, court records and other public sources, though the depth of what can be established depends on how the ownership is structured — we tell you the limits of what we found, not just the positive result.
Is this the same as a sanctions check?
Sanctions screening is one part of our due diligence on a Russian company, not the whole of it — we also check corporate registration, litigation, bankruptcy and encumbrance records.
How current is the EGRUL and court data you check?
We pull directly from the live registers and current dockets at the time of the check, which is more current than most third-party databases relying on periodic scrapes.
Can you run this as an ongoing KYC check rather than a one-off?
Yes — periodic re-checks on existing counterparties are available on request, scoped to your monitoring cycle.
Get started
Pricing is on request, quoted per company or per volume of counterparties. Send the company name and details to law@vfs.consulting or use the contact form. We confirm scope and turnaround before starting.
