Russia offers businesses tax breaks for anti-drone defenses — but the state keeps what's built
Russia's government has submitted a bill to the State Duma letting businesses cut their taxes by building drone-defense structures and handing them over to state agencies for free. The move follows an August presidential decree allowing the state to take over critical infrastructure whose owners fail to protect it.
Russia's government has submitted a bill to the State Duma that would give private business owners tax incentives for building structures to defend their facilities against drone attacks, the outlet Faridaily reported.
Under the proposal, companies could deduct the cost of building anti-drone protection from their taxable profits, but only if they transfer the completed structures free of charge to one of several state bodies: the Defense Ministry, the National Guard, the Emergencies Ministry, or the security services.
The bill would also allow businesses to deduct the cost of feeding people sheltering inside these protective structures from their value-added tax (VAT) base.
Linked to a presidential decree
The proposal follows a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin in late August that authorizes placing critical infrastructure facilities under temporary state administration if their owners fail to protect them from security threats, including Ukrainian drone strikes. Under that decree, Russia's Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo), or another government-designated body, would serve as the temporary administrator.
Taken together, the two measures effectively give business owners a choice: invest in drone defenses and hand the results to the state in exchange for tax relief, or risk having their facilities placed under state control if protection is deemed insufficient.
