Supreme Court of Russia allowed the introduction of a flexible bankruptcy moratorium

The bankruptcy moratorium for individuals and legal entities, introduced by the Government of the Russian Federation in April of this year, gave rise to a wave of disputes and contradictions among the participants in civil circulation.  In particular, the question concerns the suspension of recovery under executive documents for the period of validity of the norm.

Previously, large Russian banks have already taken the initiative to provide the possibility of depriving debtors of the moratorium protection in a situation where the debt is not related to the reasons for the introduction of a government measure. The idea was approved by the tax authorities, but has not yet been implemented.

Currently, only the debtor has the option to opt out of the protection afforded by the six-month government moratorium.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in turn, spoke in favor of the introduction of the so-called "flexible mechanism" for the operation of the norm. This will ensure its application to persons who have actually suffered and are in need of state protection. The issue of the validity of these circumstances, the highest court proposed to refer to the arbitration courts, reports "Fedresurs".

The Federal Tax Service and a number of banks insist on the need to “freeze” the provision providing for the possibility of suspending collections in enforcement proceedings in respect of debts that arose before April 2022. The corresponding draft law was even developed by the Ministry of the Economic Development, but so far it has not been passed to the State Duma of the Russian Federation.