How to Check a Russian Company Before You Sign or Pay

The free registers anyone can query

Russia maintains public state registers that are free to query from anywhere, in Russian. The main ones for company checks:

• EGRUL (state register of legal entities): registration data, OGRN number, tax ID (INN), declared address, director and current status — on the Russian tax service website.
• Fedresurs (federal bankruptcy register): notices of intent to file for bankruptcy and ongoing insolvency proceedings.
• Arbitration courts (kad.arbitr.ru): commercial litigation where the company appears as a party, across Russia.
• General courts (ГАС Правосудие): civil and administrative cases.
• Bailiffs service (FSSP): debts in enforced collection against the company or its director.

How to read the extract: red flags

The EGRUL extract is short but says a lot. These are the signals that deserve attention before a contract or a payment:

• Status other than "active": reorganisation, liquidation in progress, restricted capacity. Initiated liquidation is an immediate red flag.
• Mass-registration address: a building where hundreds or thousands of companies are declared. Usually means no real office there.
• A recently appointed director, or a history of frequently rotating directors: can indicate a formal structure rather than real management.
• A company registered only recently that claims a long track record: an easy contradiction to spot by comparing the extract with the counterparty — its own story.
• Declared business activity that does not match what you are being told: the extract lists official activity codes you can check against the deal.

What the online registers cannot tell you

The registers confirm the company exists and is active. They do not confirm it exists in the place: if the address is formal, there may be no office there at all.

They also do not show who is really behind the operation, or whether the warehouse or plant they mention actually runs. That part is only established on site: a visit, photographs, a conversation.

This is why a complete check usually combines two layers: Russian-language public-source research and a physical check when the risk justifies it.

A basic check in one afternoon, step by step

In this order, an initial verification takes a few hours:

• Pull the EGRUL extract by name, OGRN or INN and verify status, address and director.
• Compare registration date and director history with what the counterparty claims about itself.
• Search the company in Fedresurs (bankruptcy) and in the arbitration courts (commercial litigation).
• Check enforced debts in the FSSP register.
• Compare the declared address against public lists of mass-registration addresses.
• Decide whether the result justifies an on-site check before signing or paying.

Where a Moscow contact fits in

If the next step after the online check is to see it with your own eyes:

• Visit the declared address and confirm whether there is real activity, with photographs.
• Meet the counterparty in Moscow and compare what they say with what they show.
• Collect documents on the ground and check their consistency with the registers.
• Translate and explain the Russian documents you have already received.
• Deliver a report in English that separates verified facts from what could not be confirmed.

Honest limits

As in all my work:

• Lawful methods only: public sources and verifiable on-site observation.
• No access to confidential databases or private banking information.
• No guaranteed findings: you receive what was established, what was not, and with what degree of confidence.

Frequently asked questions