Shipping ASIC Miners to Russia: What Your Buyer Will Need From You

1. The document pack your Russian buyer will ask you for

The clearance file on the Russian side is assembled from shipper-side paperwork. Expect requests for:

• Commercial invoice — with the value, the exact model designation and the serial numbers;
• Packing list and transport documents — AWB, CMR and so on;
• Declaration of conformity with the technical regulations — TR CU 020/2011 on electromagnetic compatibility and TR EAEU 037/2016 on the restriction of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. The declaration is registered in Russia, but it is drawn up on the strength of your technical specification, so a missing datasheet stops the process on your side of the chain. This is the part we handle as product certification and conformity assessment;
• Notification filed with the FSB of Russia — mandatory for every device with a data-encryption function, miners included.

Without the notification the consignment cannot be cleared at all, even if every duty and tax has already been paid — and an attempt to import without it leads to seizure of the cargo. The notification is prepared from the manufacturer's technical description, so the shipper is the critical path: send the specification early, not with the shipping documents.

We covered how the notification is obtained and how long it takes in a separate article: Notification for an encryption device: procedure and timing.

2. Route choice: what it changes for your packing and handover date

Your buyer picks the mode, but the consequences land on you: how far ahead the goods must be at the forwarder's warehouse, how they have to be packed, and how much delay tolerance the schedule has. The three main directions out of China compare as follows.

Practical reading for the shipper: air freight is the only mode that tolerates a late document, because the paperwork can still catch up while the goods fly. On road groupage and especially on ocean freight the transit is long enough that a missing notification will not be noticed until the box is already at the border — and then it sits there. Sea freight also puts the packing burden on you: condensation inside a container is the standard damage claim on electronics, so moisture barriers and desiccant are not optional. Rail is available too, via rail transport, when the volume is large but the sea leg is too slow.

3. Duties and taxes: who pays, and how your invoice sets the base

The import charges are paid by the consignee in Russia, but they are calculated from the figures you write. Under the current EAEU customs tariff:

• Customs duty — 0% under HS code 8471 50 000 0, "data processing units";
• VAT — 20%, charged on the invoice value plus freight plus insurance;
• Recycling fee — not levied, as it does not apply to electronic computing machines;
• Customs processing fee — RUB 30,000.

So the total import cost is 20% VAT on the customs value plus the clearance fees. Two things follow for you. First, the duty-free classification depends on the goods being correctly identified as data-processing units — an imprecise product description on the invoice is what pushes a consignment into a different code and into a dispute. Second, since freight and insurance enter the VAT base, an invoice that leaves the delivery terms ambiguous forces your buyer to reconstruct those figures at the border, which is exactly where customs clearance slows down.

4. Case study: 200 Antminer S21 units, Shenzhen to Yekaterinburg in 14 days

In March 2025 a client in Yekaterinburg urgently needed 200 Bitmain Antminer S21 units to launch a new data centre. The equipment was sitting in a warehouse in Shenzhen. The task was to move it to Russia before 15 April, clear customs without delays, and obtain a notification for a model that had only been released in February 2025.

What was done:

1. Air freight was arranged from Shenzhen to SVO — 12 pallets, 4,200 kg;
2. The notification application was filed 72 hours before departure under the expedited procedure;
3. The technical-regulation declaration was prepared in advance on the basis of the technical specifications supplied by Bitmain;
4. Express clearance was carried out at Sheremetyevo with 20% VAT paid according to a pre-calculation.

Result: the cargo reached Moscow on day 8, customs took two working days, the equipment was delivered to Yekaterinburg on day 14 from dispatch, and the client started mining on schedule with no downtime.

The point that matters for the sending side: nothing in that timeline depended on the goods being an established model. It worked because the manufacturer's technical specifications were in hand before the aircraft left. Even a brand-new ASIC model clears quickly when the documentation is prepared in parallel with the shipment rather than after it.

5. What to do before you ship: step by step

1. Fix the exact model designation and collect the serial numbers before the invoice is issued. Both go into the invoice, and both must match the markings on the units.
2. Send the manufacturer's technical specification to your buyer early — it feeds the notification and both conformity declarations, and it is the single document most often requested late.
3. Confirm in writing that the notification covers your specific model before you book the flight or hand the goods to the forwarder. A notification for a neighbouring model in the same family does not carry over automatically.
4. Issue the invoice with value, model and serials, and state the delivery terms clearly, so freight and insurance can be added to the VAT base without guesswork.
5. Pack for the mode actually booked — moisture protection for sea, vibration protection for road. Mining hardware is expensive and sensitive, and transport conditions are part of the shipper's obligation, not the carrier's.
6. Send scans of AWB or CMR and the packing list ahead of arrival, so the declaration is prepared while the goods are still in transit.

6. Frequently asked questions

Can ASIC miners be cleared without the FSB notification?
No. Devices with cryptographic functions fall under additional control, and importing without a notification leads to seizure of the cargo.

Who obtains the notification — the exporter or the importer?
It is filed on the Russian side, but it is built from the manufacturer's technical data. In the Antminer S21 case the declaration and the notification were both prepared from specifications provided by Bitmain, which is why the shipper's response time directly determines the filing date.

Does the buyer need a mining licence in Russia?
No licence is required, but the equipment must be imported legally and comply with the EAEU technical regulations, and the legal rules governing mining must be observed.

Is a newly released model a problem?
Not in itself. The S21 was released in February 2025 and was notified under the expedited procedure 72 hours before departure. What creates problems is starting the paperwork after the goods have already moved.

7. Expert opinion

Sergey Konstantinov — Executive Director of iCustoms, a foreign-trade and customs clearance specialist with 15 years of experience and more than 150 cleared consignments of mining and industrial equipment. At the iCustoms logistics and customs clearance service he advises on goods with cryptographic functions and on clearance through the EAEU.

«My main advice to suppliers is the same one I give importers: do not economise on document preparation. The notification and the TR EAEU declaration are not formalities, they are the key to trouble-free customs. Start the paperwork before dispatch, not after the cargo arrives.»

«From the exporting side that translates into one habit: treat the technical specification and the serial-number list as shipping documents, with the same deadline as the invoice. It saves not only money but critically important time — and in a market as volatile as crypto, time is usually the more expensive of the two.»

Summary

Mining hardware can be shipped into Russia legally and quickly, but it clears as an encryption device, which puts the shipper's documents on the critical path. The duty is 0%, VAT is 20%, and the real risk is not cost but a border hold caused by a missing notification or an imprecise invoice. Prepare the model designation, serial numbers and technical specification before dispatch, and the clearance takes days rather than weeks. Send us a request for consultation and we will go through your specific consignment.