The Federal Law specifies that certain types of merchant shipping activities that are carried out by ships flying the national flag of the Russian Federation may be conducted by ships flying flags of foreign states in accordance with international treaties of the Russian Federation and also in cases and following the procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation.
These types of activities include cabotage, icebreaker support, search-and-rescue operations, recovery of sunken assets, hydrotechnical, underwater and other similar work in internal sea waters and (or) the territorial sea of the Russian Federation, marine resource research, exploration and development of subsoil and ocean floor mineral deposits in the internal waters and (or) the territorial sea of the Russian Federation, in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation and on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation.