Key takeaways 

• Effective July 17, 2011, business jets that have 19 or fewer passenger seats and basic operating weight between 2 and 20 tons will enjoy a full conditional exemption from customs duty and import VAT in Russia. 
• The new exemption applies if the aircraft is owned by foreign persons and operated within the Customs Union of the Russian Federation, Belarus and Kazakhstan on non-scheduled flights performed outside of commercial flight schedules without receiving income. This broadly refers to typical private flights that business jets perform.