Press Center: Articles

Starting September 1, 2026, employers will have broader grounds to dismiss employees for theft. The list of circumstances under which an employer may initiate the termination of an employee’s contract following the discovery of theft has been expanded (Federal Law No. 144-FZ of May 25, 2026). This article explains the specific changes, how to properly document a dismissal on these grounds, and the new risks employers may face if the required procedure is not followed correctly.

In 2025, the pharmaceutical market grew, and the number of transactions in it increased sharply. The high cost of borrowed capital, strict regulation and a valuation gap have made the legal structure of a transaction no less important than its price. The authors examine how Russian corporate law instruments work in the pharmaceutical industry — from the purchase of a pharmacy chain to a joint venture for product localisation.

The article proposes classifying the models of discharging a citizen from obligations based on the legal circumstance that is recognized as sufficient to terminate the compulsory enforceability of the remaining debt. Three basic logics are distinguished: procedural-discharge, payment-disciplinary, and evaluative-selective. It is shown that they describe different grounds for discharge and can be combined within a single legal order. The Russian construct is qualified as a procedural-discharge model with a restrictive-filtering mechanism: completion of the procedure prescribed by law constitutes the general ground for discharge, while bad faith and other disqualifying circumstances act as exceptions. This approach allows for distinguishing between rehabilitation and restructuring, explaining the statistical dominance of property realization, and determining the limits of judicial discretion in the application of Art. 213.28 of the Bankruptcy Law¹.

From 1 June 2026, all road deliveries of goods from EAEU countries to Russia will go through a new digital platform with a security payment. With the introduction of the system for confirming expected delivery, shipment planning, cash flows and the allocation of liability between the parties to a transaction are changing. The author of this article explains what this means for importers of dairy products, feed, grain and agricultural machinery into Russia — and what they need to do now.

Which terms of a license agreement help protect rights to a variety and control the reproduction of seeds

Seed traceability in Russia has made the illegal reproduction of varieties visible. But the right holder will receive money only within the limits fixed in the license agreement. Which mistakes in contracts leave breeders without royalties (license payments) and how to protect a variety for the entire term of its protection — in the author's column by Boris Malakhov, managing partner of the law firm Lidings.

The article provides an algorithm for recovering the full value of assets instead of the price difference when a transaction is challenged due to inadequate consideration.

A change of managing partner at a law firm is rarely just a personnel decision – more often, it is a test of the sustainability of the business model and the maturity of the partnership. Lidings partners Andrey Zelenin and his successor as managing partner, Boris Malakhov, argue that their transition was neither a crisis nor a reboot, but rather a confirmation of the viability of the chosen governance structure – one that maintains trust within the team and carefully adapts to a changing market.

India has long and firmly established itself as the ‘pharmacy of the world’, as the country produces a fifth of all generics and provides affordable medicines to millions of people across the globe. However, India is now transitioning from copying innovative molecules to creating them. Amid the restructuring of global supply chains and strategic rapprochement with Russia, India is becoming both a battleground for fierce patent wars and a unique laboratory for joint research. How can Russian pharmaceutical companies establish intellectual property protection in a jurisdiction where the balance between the interests of pharmaceutical giants and the affordability of medicines for the population is enshrined in law? Boris Malakhov and Natalya Thotahewage analyse the key features of patenting and the prospects for technological alliances between Moscow and Delhi.