Procedural means of proof prior to criminal prosecution

In accordance with the current Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, materials collected before the initiation of a criminal case may have evidentiary value in the further process. However, such evidence actually appears in the case without the participation of the defense, since the suspect and the accused acquire their procedural statuses only at the stage of preliminary investigation. In such a situation, they have no opportunity to influence the formation of evidence before a criminal prosecution is initiated. Based on the analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that such a situation does not correspond to progressive scientific views and jeopardizes the implementation of the principle of competition. The article proposes to consider the possibility of expanding the circle of participants at the initial stage of criminal proceedings to include witnesses, victims and witness of an investigative action as well as to abolish such a procedural action as obtaining explanations, allowing the possibility of interrogation before initiating a criminal case.