An expert from the North Caucasus Federal University (NCFU, Stavropol) explained the amendments to the law "On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)", which the State Duma adopted in the third reading at a meeting in July 2026.

The main idea of the innovations in the bankruptcy bill is to move from the almost inevitable liquidation of an enterprise to the possibility of restoring its solvency. In other words, the institution of pre-bankruptcy resolution gives debtor companies the opportunity to restore their solvency even when the business continues to operate, retains assets, contracts, staff and its operational value. For this purpose, a comprehensive rehabilitation agreement is being introduced, which is designed for large companies with assets over 1 billion rubles and must be approved by the court. 

"Everything new is well–forgotten old. In fairness, before analyzing the "innovations", it should be recalled that the old legislation also spelled out the procedure for rehabilitation in case of bankruptcy of legal entities. This refers to the Law of the Russian Federation dated 19.11.1992 No. 3929-I (expired in 2003) and Federal Law No. 6-FZ dated 08.01.1998 (expired in 2005). The essence of the rehabilitation was to give the company a chance to recover and avoid bankruptcy. Rehabilitation under the old legislation, "financial recovery" is an attempt to save a business by giving it financial support from the outside and developing a clear plan that the court will approve and monitor," said Doctor of Law, Professor of the Department of Public Law at the Faculty of Law of the Pyatigorsk Institute (branch) NCFU Andrey Mazurenko.

The expert highlighted some features of the rehabilitation institute, including:

– if the majority of the debtor company's independent creditors supported the restoration of the business, the resolution agreement will apply to those creditors who did not participate in it.;

– rehabilitation is not limited to an oral agreement between the debtor and creditors: a financial condition check, judicial approval, and an assessment of the agreement by an audit organization are provided. The auditor must confirm that the previous payment terms are impossible, and the proposed measures give grounds to expect restoration.;

– the requirements for salary, compensation for damage, mandatory payments and the state defense order are separately protected.

If it was not possible to reach an agreement between the debtor company and its creditors before the bankruptcy, the bill introduces judicial debt restructuring. In this case, the court may approve a recovery plan for up to four years with a possible extension for another four years. Full repayment of all debts is not required at once. It is enough for the obligations to be settled according to the approved plan.

"In general, experts positively assess the new concept of the law, but warn about the risks. Debt restructuring will be effective only when the company has a viable business, there is trust from creditors and there is a realistic plan for financial recovery. Otherwise, the "new" procedure risks becoming only a way to delay the inevitable bankruptcy proceedings," Andrey Mazurenko added.

Thus, the pre-bankruptcy resolution mechanism gives debtor companies the opportunity to restore their solvency without launching bankruptcy proceedings. At the same time, it should be noted that the Law has not yet been adopted. If approved by the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, and signed by the President of the Russian Federation, it will enter into force one year after its official publication, therefore, the NCFU expert notes, it is still far from analyzing the practice of its implementation.