Partnership Financing in Russia: From a Pilot Project to an Instrument of Economic Sovereignty

Abstract

In the context of large-scale geopolitical transformation, ensuring national economic sovereignty objectively dictates the need to diversify financial flows and implement alternative capital formation mechanisms. Partnership financing, grounded in ethical principles and equitable risk-sharing, is positioned as a strategic driver of investment activity in priority segments of the real economy, stimulating both technological imports and domestic production. In this regard, the present study aims to provide a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of the legal and regulatory experiment on introducing Sharia-compliant instruments and to identify the factors limiting their subsequent federal scaling. The methodological framework of the work comprised an empirical analysis of statistical data for the period from 2023 to 2024, a comparative legal examination of the provisions of Federal Law No. 417-FZ, and a systematic approach to assessing the macroeconomic and regulatory environment with the engagement of expert evaluations. In the course of the study, the quantitative and qualitative market dynamics in the pilot regions were monitored, institutional barriers were classified, and a concept for overcoming existing regulatory contradictions was developed in order to create a transparent ecosystem. Empirical verification revealed that, despite the confident quantitative expansion of partnership operations in the four participating constituent entities, the emerging segment faces profound systemic imbalances. The persistence of double taxation, the fragmentation of enforcement practices, an acute shortage of specialised human competencies, and the de facto absence of a takaful market are identified as critical growth inhibitors, necessitating urgent corrective measures. Based on the analysis conducted, a well-founded conclusion is drawn regarding the inevitability of transitioning from isolated experimentation to the design of a comprehensive federal infrastructure. The roadmap for mitigating legal and tax risks proposed in the study not only enriches the theoretical doctrine of adapting partnership finance to the Russian legal system but also serves as an applied guide for legislative optimisation, ensuring sustainable growth of this sector.