MOSCOW, May 31 - RAPSI, Sergey Feklyunin. The fight against offshore companies can only be won if taxes are reduced for local companies, Supreme Commercial Court Chairman Anton Ivanov said on Thursday.

"Many countries are fighting offshore companies, but it is important to understand that national companies themselves are providing them with the opportunity to ease their tax burden via offshore companies," he said at a meeting with Russian and German supreme court justices.

"They create this relief themselves. This is why the fight against offshore companies can only be won if the tax load in the country is reduced."

Otherwise, he said, companies will find sanctuary in other locations and further hide their assets, such as in Delaware or offshore jurisdictions in the British Isles.

Ivanov added that securitization must not be the number-one priority. A large number of firms should not be put on the stock exchange to prevent their assets from being bought by obscure entities, he said.

He also voiced doubts about whether the right path has been chosen in the fight to keep assets from moving abroad - by increasing the list of strategic enterprises.

Potential buyers must now agree upon a specific portfolio before their purchase can be approved.

According to Ivanov, this is not easy to check every time. Thus, it is necessary to think about economic stimuli, such as state guarantees and changes to regulation, including tax regulation.