Following presidential direction, the government kept the pause on unscheduled workplace inspections for the coming year. This stance was reported by About This Cabinet through the Telegram channel.
There are exceptions, mirroring this year:
- High‑risk facilities can be inspected without warning, including educational institutions;
- Unscheduled checks of entrepreneurs whose work could threaten lives or national security remain permissible;
- Unannounced inspections may occur if a supervisor receives a complaint or finds information indicating violations of mandatory rules or deviations from risk indicators, such as during construction emergencies or when fire alarms are repeatedly triggered by accident.
“The moratorium has proven effective, significantly reducing inspection numbers by nearly five times versus 2019,” stated Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. He noted that fewer inspections enabled businesses to focus resources on current tasks, expand projects, and explore new markets.
Regarding planned inspections for 2024, the prosecutor’s office approved about 93 thousand cases, a level four times lower than in 2022. The Council of Ministers added that many visits are being replaced by preventive checks.
“This approach allows organizations to proactively identify and fix deficiencies without penalties,” the government explained in a posting. By the end of November, preventive visits surpassed inspections by almost threefold, according to the Council of Ministers.
“The prosecution always gives longer sentences”
The moratorium on unscheduled business inspections has been in effect since March 2022.
At the end of November, a meeting with the government led to a proposal to extend the moratorium into 2024. A discussion followed about whether a longer timeframe would be more appropriate, with senior officials weighing the options.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko responded that any deadline set would be workable for the administration.
Business response
Billionaire Oleg Deripaska called the move bold and essential for growth in a sanctions environment.
Deripaska noted the difficulty for traditional auditors to operate under pressure, and he argued that the core of the new Russian economy should rest on freedom of entrepreneurship and trade.
Marina Bludyan, vice president of the Russian Entrepreneurs Association Opora Rossii, emphasized that not every audit is mandatory and that a cautious, risk-based approach is being developed. She suggested that the system will evolve to ensure inspections occur only with a clear justification.
Expressing cautious optimism, she indicated that the moratorium goes beyond relief, aiming to refine risk criteria so that audits happen only for solid reasons. The honesty mechanism would become more effective once risk categories can be influenced by proactive measures.
Some entrepreneurs facing sanctions and import difficulties called for relief from inspection pressures. Tamara Nekhorosheva, founder of a dry-cleaning business, urged eliminating the inspection hurdle to prevent distraction and support ongoing operations.
Moratorium and nalivayki
Despite the moratorium, a number of deputies continue to organize surprise checks on nalivayki stores. The head of the Interior Ministry raised concerns about these raids in a correspondence with the State Duma chairman, as reported by RBC on December 13.
Kolokoltsev noted that not only individual deputies violated the pause, but media involvement in inspections also created a misleading impression of police inactivity against alcohol sellers.
Deputy Biysultan Khamzaev, who orchestrated some raids, later said the minister was put in a difficult position and that the letter was not authored by him but by the press service. He urged colleagues to avoid articles that misrepresent the minister’s stance on strict enforcement.
Khamzaev argued that the letter contained legal inaccuracies because the moratorium on alcohol outlet inspections had effectively been lifted by a government decision in October. The government had the Ministry of Economic Development resume inspections related to alcohol and tobacco products.
Nikolai Arefyev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma’s Economic Policy Committee, commented that many Russians fear nalivayki and pledged to monitor the situation, noting concerns about their location in residential buildings and public spaces that affect community peace.