Criminal Code of Russia

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is the primary source of Russian criminal law, adopted in 1996, signed by President Boris Yeltsin on June 13 of that year, and effective from January 1, 1997, when it replaced the Soviet-era criminal code of 1960. It is divided into a General Part of six sections and seventeen chapters, which sets out foundational principles such as the scope of application, categories of crime, criminal responsibility, and punishment, and a Special Part of six sections and nineteen chapters, which defines specific offenses and their sanctions. The 1996 code introduced substantial reform of economic and property crimes to reflect post-Soviet conditions, and states its purpose as protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens, property, public order and security, the environment, and the constitutional system.