Irina heads our Moscow office's Tax Practice and heads our CEE Tax Practice. She has been advising on Russian and international tax matters since 1995, primarily focusing on greenfield investments, M&A, private equity, corporate restructuring and reorganizations, real estate and structured finance transactions. Irina also advises on employee incentives and stock option plans.

She is recognized as one of the top tax practitioners in Russia by Chambers Europe, World Tax, PLC Which Lawyer?, European Legal Experts, Who's Who Legal, and International Tax Review has noted that Irina is "a highly-regarded tax lawyer" in Russia.

Her recent experience includes advising on tax structuring and providing general tax advice on the following transactions: 

• MDM Bank and URSA Bank merger, creating one of the leading private universal banks in Russia; 
• Sberbank – attempted joint acquisition, together with Magna International, of a 55 percent interest in Adam Opel GmbH; 
• Bank of Cyprus – acquisition of an 80 percent stake in Uniastrum bank, a leading Russian commercial bank; 
• Goldman Sachs – the first ever foreign-sponsored leveraged buy-out in Russia, in connection with the debt financing for the acquisition of Nidan Soki by private equity firm Lion Capital; 
• Google – proposed acquisition of a leading Russian context advertising service, Begun, from RamblerMedia; 
• Immoeast – number of real estate development projects in Moscow and Moscow region; 
• Knauf – acquisition of 56 percent of the stock in St. Petersburg Cardboard and Printing Plant; 
• Lebedyansky – development and implementation of a stock option plan for its top management; and
• Lafarge – structuring and implementation of the share-based employee incentive plan in Russia.

Irina is a frequent speaker at conferences and regularly contributes to international tax, legal and business journals. In addition, she often lectures at Russian law schools.

Bars and Courts
Qualified to practice law in the Russian Federation

Education
Law Degree, Academic Law University at the Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation
Degree in Economics, Moscow State University

Professional Associations and Memberships
International Fiscal Association, Russian Section
National Reporter for Russia at the Tax Committee of the International Bar Association (2005–2006)
Advisory Board of Practical Russia/Eurasia Tax Strategies

Awards and Recognition
Chambers Europe 2008–2010
PLC Which lawyer? 2005–2009
World Tax Review 2005–2010
European Legal Experts 2005–2010
Vedomosti 2010

Publications
"Amendments to the Russia-Cyprus Double Taxation Treaty", BNA Tax Planning International European Tax Service, May 2009
Russian section of "Global Tax Guide 2009/2010", BNA International Inc., 2009
"Structuring and Financing M&A in Russia", BNA Tax Planning International: Special Report "M&A and Debt", May 2006
"Minimizing Tax", The Moscow Times Real Estate Quarterly, May 2006

Speaking Engagements
Tax structuring in M&A deals – 1st Russian and CIS M&A Conference of the International Bar Association, Moscow, 19 November 2009
Visiting Professor, The Institute for Central and Eastern European Business Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, 2000, 2004

Languages
Russian
English
German

Citizenship
Russian Federation