The confirmed number of persons in Russia infected with SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 (Corona) exceeds 6,000. Many people and enterprises are affected by non-working days, lock down measures and the resulting direct and indirect impact on work, business and finances. This summary highlights some recent legal issues in connection with the Corona crisis in Russia.

Quarantine and lock down measures

The Presidium of the Russian Supreme Court has approved a Review* of the judicial practice in disputes related to claims made by persons or entities (below referred to as persons) controlling a debtor and its affiliates in bankruptcy proceedings.

The Review provides important clarifications on the specifics of the participation in bankruptcy proceedings of persons affiliated with a debtor and persons controlling the debtor’s activities.

On December 21, 2017, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation adopted the resolution regarding the liability of the controlling persons in the event of company bankruptcy. The resolution clarified the application of the new law No. 266-FZ dated July 29, 2017 that introduced amendments to the Russian Law on Bankruptcy, including the new chapter III.2 “Liability of the debtor’s executive and other persons in a bankruptcy case.”

Second stage of the tax amnesty in Russia

A Law extending the tax amnesty of capital and the tax-free liquidation of foreign companies entered into force in Russia on 1 March 2018. The tax amnesty has been extended until the end of February 2019.

General context

The statutory regulation of cryptocurrency in Russia is yet to be made compatible with the current dynamics of digital assets.

Deposit Ins. Agency v. Leontiev, No. 17-MC-00414 (S.D.N.Y. July 23, 2018) [click for opinion]

Nothing lasts forever – a legal entity may close by choice or circumstance. It is often the case that during liquidation procedures and following settlements with creditors, rights holders are no longer able to manage their trademarks. This article addresses the fate of those trademarks. The liquidation of a legal entity does not automatically result in a transfer of rights and obligations. However, after settlements are made, it is common for the legal entity’s property to be transferred to the founder of that entity that has proprietary or corporate rights.

Russia's Supreme Court guidelines reduce high net worth individuals' ("HNWIs") asset protection opportunities and potentially create risks of additional creditor claims against HNWIs after divorce and asset division between the HNWI and his/her spouse.1

In addition, these guidelines enable third parties, notably creditors of the ex-spouse, to get access to information regarding the HNWI's disputed assets. We summarize the most important points of these guidelines below.

Key developments

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has obliged a tax authority to check the relevancy of the claim to recognize a debtor as a bankrupt in terms of prospects and economic feasibility of initiating such dispute.

We recently published a blog identifying issues which cryptocurrency pose in insolvencies; not least identifying and classifying it, how to take control of it and realising value for the insolvency estate.

Given cryptocurrencies are global, the question of how to classify cryptocurrency on insolvency is not limited to just one jurisdiction.