“Alternative Imports” as a New Category in Russia’s Foreign Trade

Trade restrictions of the West imposed on Russia after February 2022 have stirred both theoretical and practical interest to the peculiarities of importing to Russia authentic goods without permission of the intellectual property owners. However, the research believes that not all operations under such framework could be referred to the notion of parallel imports. First, some of the Western companies have left Russia, so, an authorized channel of distribution is absent per se. Second, some these imported goods are subject to sanctions regime. Third, there is practically no reference to parallel imports in Russia’s juridical practice. Thus, to depict the current situation the authors come up with a new category – “alternative imports”, imports of authentic products (incl. sanctioned goods) violating the intellectual property rights of foreign owners via sophisticated logistics schemes bypassing economic sanctions of the West with complete absence of authorized channels of distribution in Russia. To conclude, this category neatly refers to the current practice evident in Russia’s foreign trade when importing goods selected.