To the question of subject of the crime under the article 2431 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Introduction: inclusion of the Article 243.1 in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was the result of the activities of law enforcement bodies of Russia aimed at curbing crimes against objects of cultural heritage included in the unified state register of objects of cultural heritage (monuments of history and culture), identified objects of cultural heritage. Materials and Methods: dialectic, comparative legal and statistical methods of scientific research were applied. Results: the practice of using of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation revealed a number of significant shortcomings that hinder the attraction of guilty persons to criminal responsibility, in particular, the absence in the disposition of this article the precise characteristics of the subject of the crime, which may be only the owner or other lawful owner of object of cultural heritage (monuments of history and culture), revealed object of cultural heritage. The results of investigation of criminal cases on signs of structure of the crime provided by article 243.1 of the Criminal code were studied; the results of a survey of law enforcement officers were summarized. Discussion and Conclusions: the changes to Article 243.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, aimed to increase the efficiency of implementation of state policy on the protection of cultural heritage of the peoples and preserve the cultural identity of the multinational people of the Russian Federation, were proposed.