Russian legislation on public joint stock companies: past and present

The article is devoted to the characteristics of the Russian legislation on public joint stock companies, for which this concept is quite new, since it received legal recognition only in 2014, when the Civil Code of the Russian Federation was reformed, followed by the reform of the entire corporate legislation of the Russian Federation. The legislation on public joint stock companies is considered both in a narrow sense - only federal laws, and in a broad sense - other regulatory legal acts, primarily those adopted by the Central Bank of Russia. Legislative regulation of public joint stock companies is characterized as imperative, in other words, «strict» regulation. At the same time, the so-called «soft» regulation represented by the Corporate Governance Code also plays a certain role in regulating the legal status of a public joint stock company. Since the beginning of 2022, Russian corporations, primarily public joint stock companies, have been operating under unprecedented economic sanctions and restrictions imposed by the collective West and the United States. The restrictions affected corporate governance procedures and conditions, which ultimately violated the rights and legitimate interests of their shareholders (participants). Legislative measures adopted at the beginning of 2022 and in force in 2023 are aimed at maintaining the manageability of corporations, creating mechanisms to ensure the functionality of boards of directors (supervisory boards) as strategic bodies of corporations, as well as protecting the interests of corporations and their shareholders (participants). In general, corporate governance in Russian corporations, despite the imposed sanctions and restrictions, demonstrates a high level of sustainability and continues to function as an effective system.