Dentons has hired Deloitte head of technology, media and telecoms Vasilii Markov as part of an eight-strong tax hire to grow its St Petersburg office.

Markov, who will join as head of tax for Dentons’ St Petersburg office, was at Deloitte for over 11 years in the R&D and government incentives programme. He will be the seventh partner in the office.

The other Deloitte joiners are associate Diana Agarkova; consultants Kseniya Mogileva, Elena Kramm and Natalia Vagina; assistant consultant Yulia Khasanova and Anna Mukhacheva; manager Yana Butrimovich and secretary Ksenia Aleeva.

Global tax co-head Sandra Hazan said that the firm is committed to “investing in quality talent in key markets” as part of its growth strategy for the tax practice.

“Over the last two years, we have doubled the size of the practice to more than 100 tax advisers across Europe,” she said.

This investment in tax has been one of the firm’s main strategic initiatives this year. Dentons bulked up its Russian tax practice with a five-strong team hire from Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, and launched a new tax practice in the Netherlands through the hire of a four-lawyer team from Baker McKenzie.