‘The court is processing quite a few insolvency claims at the moment; even though initiating bankruptcy proceedings is not that complicated, creditors must be aware of the fact that it is not always the best way out for them. The bankrupt company, for example, may not be able to cover the litigation costs, so creditors will have to provide for those themselves,’ acting Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration Svetlana Tsvetkova says.

‘90% of claims we get come from the Russian Federation Federal Tax Service that largely have to do with insolvency and collections of all types. This generally happens because there used to be no legal duty that could be imposed on the tax authorities. It has recently been decided that the service will have to pay a duty if it loses the case, but the paying mechanism is still not very clear. If the tax authorities had to pay a duty when submitting their claim, our courts would have fewer cases to deal with,’ Ms Tsvetkova observes.