Government relations / Public affairs / Communications
I lead government relations for companies in complex markets: Russia, Kazakhstan, the Eurasian Economic Union and the EU. On the leadership team or as an advisor. Most recently Deputy CEO, External Affairs at BASF in Russia and Belarus, reporting to the CEO.
Key places of work
About
For more than 20 years I have worked where business meets government, and the work has never been tied to one country: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Eurasian Economic Union, Eastern Europe and the EU. I started in government, at the Ministry of Economic Development and the Government Executive Office. Then I represented companies before government: at Google and for 14 years at BASF, where I built the government relations function from scratch and became Deputy CEO, External Affairs for Russia and Belarus.
I work with companies that need to build relations with government, take part in shaping the rules and keep operating when those rules change, in house or as an advisor. Alongside that I run a data-driven research series on Russian legislation and built my own AI service, iblens.com.
Communications have always been part of the job. From 2016 I ran corporate communications and government relations as one function, rebuilt external and internal communications around the business units, and later worked with global headquarters on communications and stakeholders for the planned IPO of BASF Agricultural Solutions.
Expertise
Twenty years on both sides of the table: inside government and representing business before it.
Building the function from scratch and setting priorities with the business. Moving from tracking regulation to taking part in drafting it. Communications and media, work through the AEB, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Foreign Investment Advisory Council. At Google: internet and data regulation.
Ministries of Industry and Trade and of Economic Development, the Federal Customs Service, other agencies and the Government. Two years inside the Government Executive Office: I know how a decision is prepared and who signs off on it.
Work with government bodies in Kazakhstan, including difficult disputes, and with the Eurasian Economic Commission on technical regulation, tariffs, quotas, customs clearance and anti-dumping.
Until 2022 I ran public affairs for BASF Agricultural Solutions in Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia. National ministries, Members of the European Parliament and the European Commission.
Regulatory and sanctions risk after 2022 for a European group: scenarios for headquarters, compliance with both Russian and EU rules, business continuity. Long practice of building trust with senior officials in state-led economies, relevant to Central Asia.
Working with AI, I built the paid service iblens.com and the tools behind my analysis of hundreds of thousands of legal acts. I know what AI changes in regulatory work and use it every day.
Experience
Government, a technology company and a Fortune Global 500 chemical group.
Secured two Government Commission permits to repay an intragroup loan: BASF was the only Western company to obtain two. The business kept operating throughout.
Worked out a solution with the debtor and the Kazakh authorities on a debt written off as bad, balancing the interests of the debtor, the state and BASF as the creditor.
Blocked proposed import quotas on crop protection products in Russia and protected more than 50 million dollars in annual revenue.
Prepared and delivered the meeting between the CEO of BASF and the President of Russia. Also organised meetings with the President of Tatarstan and the governors of five regions.
Won the company's case in a Eurasian Economic Commission anti-dumping investigation into EU-made herbicides, with a coalition of government and industry.
Got a Federal Customs Service order on clearance procedures withdrawn and won tariff reductions for several product groups.
Brought BASF's Russian leadership back into the leading national business media for the first time since 2011.
AI and research
From raw data to findings that matter for business, and from an idea to a working product.
An independent series built on open data: every federal legal act since 1991, every draft bill in the State Duma and the full archive of the regulation.gov.ru consultation portal. The data was collected and processed with code I wrote together with AI. Posts are in Russian.
of binding requirements in force sit in federal laws
Of 360,000 to 430,000 requirements in force, only 4% are in federal laws and 63% in ministry orders. The stock grows by 5 to 8% a year, against 1.9% in the US. Ministries are what to watch first.
Read on LinkedInmore new requirements in 2020 than in any other year since 1991
The guillotine repealed 12,000 acts, but the requirements did not disappear: they were rewritten into new ones. Labour and industrial safety rules now sit in a third fewer acts and carry a third more requirements. 96% of the 2020 requirements are still in force.
Read on LinkedInof deputies' bills co-sponsored by a senator become law
36,591 bills since 1994. A deputy's bill becomes law in 35% of cases and in 61% with a senator as co-sponsor, in every convocation. The government sees 0.6% of its bills returned, the President none.
Read on LinkedInof drafts marked as revised did not change a single word
I compared 34,035 revised drafts on regulation.gov.ru with the originals word by word. Comments do work: with ten or more, the chance of a substantive rewrite rises from 10% to 53%. Yet only 10% of drafts get any comments.
Read on LinkedInOwn AI product
The service marks coursework of International Baccalaureate students against the official criteria and explains what to fix. A live paid product I built myself with AI, from the idea to payments and analytics, with no development team. It runs without my daily involvement.
Contact
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