Article 176 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: the problems of application and the ways of improvement

Introduction: at present, it is impossible to imagine a modern market economy without loans. This is also evidenced by the data of the Bank of Russia on the volume of business lending. In the Russian criminal legislation, one of the barriers to the development of negative trends in lending is Article 176 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. However, in the law enforcement practice, there are problems with the application of Article 176 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Purpose: to identify the problems of application of Article 176 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and identify the ways to solve them. Methods: the methodological framework for the study is based on the methods of scientific cognition, which include the historical-legal, comparative-legal, formal-legal, logical and systematic approaches. Results: the paper discusses the problems of applying Article 176 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which establishes the liability for illegal receipt of credit and preferential credit conditions, as well as for illegal receipt of a state target loan, as well as its use for other purposes. To solve these problems, it is necessary to improve the disposition of the criminal law norm on credit fraud. Conclusions: as a result of the conducted research, it is established that currently in Russia, lending is an important tool for financing entrepreneurship. At the same time, under the influence of various factors, the cases of non-repayment of loans to the credit institutions have become more frequent. In this regard, the legal solutions are needed that can affect the growth of the negative processes in the field of lending, in particular, it is necessary to improve the criminal law provision providing for the liability for illegal obtaining of credit.