Anastasia Samusenko has discussed with Mashnews the changes in the conduct of general meetings of shareholders

On 20 March 2025, the President of Russia signed a federal law that immediately came into force and allowed corporations with more than 1 million shareholders to hold general meetings exclusively in remote format in 2025.

Recall that the remote format of annual meetings for JSCs and LLCs was legalised in August 2024. However, earlier, even when choosing the online format, companies were obliged to determine the location of the in-person event and ensure the possibility of personal participation of shareholders.

According to Anastasia Samusenko, Senior Associate at Maxima Legal, the amendments can hardly be regarded as a violation of minority shareholders’ rights. ‘When voting in favour of the relevant amendments to the charter, they do not have sufficient influence in any case,’ the expert explained specially for Mashnews.

The federal law adopted six months ago also allows a shareholder who has not received at least two registered letters within two years and has not provided the registrar with up-to-date information to be recognised as ‘lost’. The company will also be obliged to publish a special announcement about the exclusion of ‘lost’ shareholders. According to Anastasia Samusenko, the volume of personal data included in the publication is not defined by the legislation: We believe that such data should be sufficient for the “sleeping” shareholders to identify themselves and, if desired, to take action to restore their rights.

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