UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 11, 2016. Only 50% of agreements signed between Mid-Urals-based businesses and their foreign partners were fully implemented by January 1, 2016, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry representative in Yekaterinburg Alexander Kharlov said at a press conference.

Kharlov said over 200 such contracts were signed last year, and only 49% were still valid.

There are a number of reasons for this.

‘First of all, some of these contracts were signed before the enactment of FZ 4, the Federal Act on Coordination of Russian Federation Constituencies’ International & Foreign Economic Relations. Secondly, some of these states introduced jurisdictional changes to their own territories and constituencies, leaving no legal successor to uphold their part of the contract,’ Kharlov said.

Finally, there are geopolitical problems to consider. The contracts signed with companies from Ukraine or Georgia have been halted, for example.