Vladimir Putin gave a directive to introduce a ban on exporting unprocessed or roughly processed timber products from Russian as of January 1, 2022

September 29, 2020 Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting on issues of developing and decriminalizing the timber industry.

The President gave a directive to introduce a system of accounting for timber and transactions therewith in the pilot mode starting from January 1, 2021 and make it mandatory as of July 1, 2021. He also gave a directive to “impose a complete ban on exporting unprocessed softwood and precious hardwood timber materials or those roughly processed for appearance’s sake only” as of January 1, 2022. Besides, “additional forest management and control mechanisms need to be established […], first of all reforming the forest management system as the basis for accounting, planning, stock-counting and assessing forests, clearly distinguishing the authority of federal, regional and local state executive bodies.”