Russian Bankruptcy Terms

Russian insolvency cases are heard by arbitrazh courts under the federal law on insolvency (bankruptcy), often called 127-FZ. The basic words are nablyudenie, supervision, the first stage for a company; upravlyayushchy, the insolvency administrator; reestr, the register of creditors' claims; and konkursnaya massa, the pool of assets sold to pay creditors. This glossary explains these and related terms for foreign creditors and debtors.

It was prepared by attorney Elena Petrova, who represents clients abroad in Russian bankruptcy cases.

Stages for a Company

In practice most corporate cases go from nablyudenie straight to konkursnoe proizvodstvo.

Procedures for Individuals

Restrukturizatsiya dolgov is debt restructuring for a citizen under a court-approved plan.

Realizatsiya imushchestva is the sale of a citizen's property to pay creditors.

Vnesudebnoe bankrotstvo is out-of-court bankruptcy of a citizen through the MFC office, available for limited debts.

Osvobozhdenie ot obyazatelstv is the release from remaining debts at the end of the case. The court may refuse it if the debtor acted in bad faith.

Participants

Arbitrazhny upravlyayushchy (арбитражный управляющий) is the insolvency administrator appointed by the court. At different stages he is called vremenny, vneshny, konkursny or finansovy.

SRO (СРО) is the self-regulatory organisation to which every administrator must belong.

Sobranie kreditorov is the meeting of creditors that votes on key decisions.

Kontroliruyushchee litso is a controlling person of the debtor, such as the director or owner.

Claims and Their Ranking

Reestr trebovaniy kreditorov is the register of creditors' claims kept by the administrator.

Ochered (очередь) is the ranking of claims. Employees' wages come before ordinary creditors.

Zalogovy kreditor is a secured creditor whose claim is backed by a pledge.

Tekushchie platezhi are current payments, obligations that arose after the case was opened. They are paid outside the register.

Srok na vklyuchenie v reestr is the deadline to file a claim, counted from the publication of the notice.

Assets and Challenges

Konkursnaya massa (конкурсная масса) is the debtor's property available to creditors.

Edinstvennoe zhilye is a citizen's only home. As a rule it is protected from sale.

Osparivanie sdelok is the challenge of the debtor's transactions made before bankruptcy, such as sales to relatives below market value.

Subsidiarnaya otvetstvennost is secondary liability of controlling persons for the company's unpaid debts.

Public Sources

EFRSB (ЕФРСБ), also called Fedresurs, is the unified federal register of bankruptcy information.

Kommersant is the newspaper where official notices on corporate bankruptcy are published.

KAD is the arbitrazh court case index at kad.arbitr.ru, where the case file can be followed.

If Your Russian Debtor Goes Bankrupt

A foreign creditor has the same rights as a Russian one but must file the claim on time and prove it with documents. Missed deadlines move a claim behind the register.

Attorney Elena Petrova monitors the case, files claims and reports to clients abroad in English.

The main channel of communication with the attorney is email: attorneypetrova1@gmail.com.